


Purgatory - The Rescue

by CMBowles



Series: Virtual Reality [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Back in the real world, Canon-Typical Violence, Changeling Ben, Demon Dean, F/M, Gamers, M/M, MMORPGs, New Game, Past Castiel/Dick Roman, Past Lisa Braeden/Dean Winchester, Purgatory, Sexual Harassment, Sword Art Online - Freeform, Trapped in a Game, Vampire Benny, Virtual Reality, without the bloodshed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-11 08:05:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CMBowles/pseuds/CMBowles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the clearing of the game, Supernatural, players are finally able to return to their lives in the real world and try to pick up the pieces. That had been the plan for Dean Smith who had hopes of starting a new life with fellow player Castiel Novak. But Dean discovers that Castiel, along with three hundred other players, have not woken up from the game. Instead Dean is led to the game Purgatory, the newest MMORPG where a blurry photo was taken that looks striking like Castiel. Now Dean has to make the dive again to try and find the man he fell in love with so that he can bring him back to the real world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Return

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again everyone! If you have come back for more of the story, thank you so much! If you have just found this story first, you really have to go back and read the first one in the series, or a lot won't make sense.  
> This one is inspired by the second half of season one of Sword Art Online, but there are going to be major changes to parts of the story to fit in our favorite characters. Please bare with me with all of my mixed mythologies, there is a method to my madness. I really hope you enjoy the story!
> 
> Nothing from Supernatural or Sword Art Online belongs to me!

“Hey, Cas.” Dean leaned over and placed a small kiss to Castiel’s forehead. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by in a week, but work has been busy and the one free night I had Lisa stopped by as a surprise. She brought Ben, I couldn’t tell her to leave.” Dean let out a heavy sigh and sat down in the chair pulled close to the bed’s side. “So, no change, huh?” Dean ran a hand over his face, his hand scraping the little bit of stubble he had grown overnight; for the last two weekends he had not shaved until he had to Monday morning before going into the office. After waking up with the scruff and keeping it all through his physical therapy it had been bittersweet having to shave it off for work. He thought Castiel would like the rough look. “So, Sam and Jess say hi. She really wants to meet you, keeps talking about how she wants to invite you to the wedding.” Dean let out a chuckle. “Still can’t believe he popped the question. But then…” Dean bit his bottom lip. “Yeah, I get it. She almost lost him. I get wanting to stay as close as possible. I mean, that’s kinda what brings me back here all the time.” Leaning forward, Dean rubbed at his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, pinching the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath and looking back up at the other man. “So, I need you to wake up soon. So you can be my plus one to this wedding, so we can double date with the love birds… so maybe we can have what they have.” Dean’s voice shook and he laid his head on the edge of the bed that Castiel slept in.

On November second Supernatural was cleared and all around the world thousands of people woke up in their nerve gear weak but ready to get back to their real lives. Also around the world three hundred people remained in their virtual reality comas. After Dean had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation everything that he knew about the game, his time there, and Pellegrino they had told him where he could find Castiel Novak. Dean had begged Missouri, the smiling nurse that had welcomed him back to the real world, to wheel him down the corridor to the room that held the man he loved. That was when they had revealed that a portion of the gamers had not woken up with the others, and no one had an answer as to why. Staying on the safe side, they had left the players in their nerve gear as they continued to keep an eye on them. 

Every day of his two week stay in the hospital until Dean was cleared to be released, he had a nurse take him down to Castiel’s room where he would simply sit by the other man’s side for hours, hoping for some change. After his release he had been forced to go back to the hospital to continue physical therapy to regain his strength, after all laying in a bed for nineteen months took a toll on the body. With each session done, Dean spent time by Castiel’s bedside. That first trip home had been painful, knowing he was leaving the man at the hospital alone. It was a difficult change from how things had been in the game, and Dean still wasn’t sure if it was all actually for the best.

Taking a deep breath to try and steady himself, Dean sat up, slipping his hand under Castiel’s to hold it as he spoke. “Anyway, I’m still only on half days at work, which is a load of bull shit since I no longer have to come down here for therapy, but now they are making it mandatory for those of us that played the game to attend psychotherapy now. Sandover’s not the only company doing it, but they waited this long and I thought that they weren’t going to join in on it all.” Dean shook his head. “Sam’s happy about it, says a lot of us could use the chance to talk to someone about everything that happened. But I don’t feel like talking to anyone about it. I served my time in that damn world and I want to leave it behind. All of it.” He clenched his jaw shut as he stared down at the hand held in his own. “All of it except you, Cas. I didn’t get nearly enough time with you and it’s not fucking fair that you’re still trapped in there.” Quickly he swiped at the few tears that had gotten out. “I’ve turned into a damn cry baby, Cas, and you’re not here to straighten me out.” He took a moment to collect himself once more. “Anyway, I’m going to do the therapy because I’m damn lucky to still have my job and if this is what is needed to keep it than I’ll deal with it. I meet with the therapist on Monday, so I’ll stop by here as soon as I am done with that.”

It had been quiet a surprise for Dean, Sam, and the couple dozen other Sandover employees that had woken up from the dive to find out they all still had their jobs. Sam insisted that it made perfect sense being that Sandover had been in the process of trying to buy out Cavea Systems, the company Nick Pellegrino had built. The buyout would have given Pellegrino the resources to expand his platform and develop new games. Supernatural had been his big show of the kind of thing Sandover would be making money from if they bought out his company. Nobody had expected what had come next. Supporting the members of their team that had taken the extra initiative to test out the equipment and game Cavea was offering showed Sandover’s gratitude and remorse over the events that had taken place. Or so Sam said. Dean had a hunch that Sandover was trying to keep face with the public after getting into bed with a psycho that held thousands of people hostage and killed nearly two-thirds of them. Still, Dean had a well paying job that was willing to cut his days in half so that he could continue to fully heal, both physically and mentally apparently, and he was glad to be going back to it. Even after he was taken off the team that was handling the mess with Cavea Systems. Even after they made it mandatory for gamers to see a therapist. 

“You know, Ben asked about you.” Dean rubbed his thumb over the knuckles of Castiel’s hand. “He heard Lisa say something to me about you and he got curious. I don’t even know what to tell the kid. What if you wake up and you decide that you don’t really want to have anything to do with me? I think I’ll keep you to myself just a little bit longer. If you do decide to leave me when you wake up I can suffer by myself. Won’t have anyone but Sam, Jess, and Nurse Mosely asking about you.” He swallowed thickly, trying not to let himself dwell on that sad train of thought too long. The sound of the door to Castiel’s private room opening drew him out of his thoughts. Dean turned in his seat to see a man sharply dressed in a suite stride into the room, bouquet of flowers in hand and too wide smile on his lips.

“Oh hello. I wasn’t aware Castiel had a visitor.” The man moved around the hospital bed to stand next to the small table and place the flowers on it before turning to look at Dean. “And can I ask who you are?”

“If I can do the same.” Dean frowned as he slowly stood up.

“Of course. My name is Richard.” The man held out a hand and Dean was forced to let go of Castiel to shake it.

“Dean. Do you know Castiel?”

“I should hope so since we’ve been dating for three years now.” His smile seemed to widen at the sound of Dean’s gasp.

“I didn’t know he had a boyfriend.” Dean couldn’t help the strained way his voice came out as he fought to keep his composure.

“I’m sorry, but how do you know Castiel?”

“Oh, um, we played Supernatural together.”

“So then you were one of the lucky ones to make it out of the game and wake up.” Richard turned to look down at Castiel who slept, closed eyes hidden behind the screen of his nerve gear. Dean watched the man closely and while he was sure Richard was trying to look upset by the fact that Castiel continued to sleep, something about his eyes seemed to twinkle, ruining the effect.

“I guess so, yeah.” Dean shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I’m sorry, but Cas never mentioned you.” 

“Did the two of you often talk about your real lives while in the virtual world? Isn’t that frowned upon?” Richard looked back up at Dean, his creepy smile back in place.

“We did yeah. Talked enough at least. Certain rules didn’t really apply in Supernatural.”

“So I’ve heard.” Richard squinted his eyes as he stared at Dean silently for a moment before the smile was back, this time Dean could have sworn it was almost mean. “Well, Castiel doesn’t exactly flaunt his relationship with the head of Roman Enterprises. He tends to keep us private as much as he can with me being so in the public eye and all.”

“Roman Enterprises? You mean, you’re Richard Roman?” Dean didn’t bother hiding his shock.

“I see you’ve heard of me.”

“Well, yeah, kind of hard not to.” Dean was saved from having to say anything more by Missouri shuffling into the room to check on Castiel.

“Oh, I didn’t know Mr. Novak had such a gathering going on in here.” Missouri smiled brightly as she saw Dean. “How you doing, honey?”

“I’m fine, thank you Missouri. Just came in to check on Cas.” The nurse nodded with a sad smile, before turning her attention to the other man in the room. 

“Excuse me Mr. Roman, I need to squeeze in there.” She pointed at the bedside table where a monitor sat pressed against the pole that held the IV Castiel was hooked up to. 

“Of course.” Richard moved out of the way.

“I haven’t seen you in here in a while.” The woman didn’t turn around to indicate who she was talking to, but Richard answered before Dean could even open his mouth.

“Yes, well the work load for the company has increased since we absorbed Cavea Systems. I feel it has been a better use of my time to be in the office keeping an eye on the servers where I know what I am doing than here where you have things handled.” Richard straightened his tie and suite jacket. “In fact, I think I may be in a position to better know first when Castiel wakes.” The man’s words had Dean’s mind working overtime trying to figure out what was going on. He had heard that Cavea had been forced into bankruptcy, but because he had been pulled off the team dealing with Cavea he hadn’t been following the story. After all, he was far more concerned with Castiel than with the people who had done this to him. 

“You do what you have to do I suppose.” Missouri said with a nod of her head. Finally she turned back around, giving Dean a soft smile as she made her way back around the bed. “You take care of yourself, Dean. You want to be healthy when Castiel wakes, help him back on his own feet.”

“I doubt that will be necessary.” Richard practically snarled. “Castiel will have me when he wakes.”

“I was just thinking it might be a little easier on him if Castiel had someone near by that had been through the same thing.” Missouri raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the man now openly glaring at her. “Man’s got to have friends.” She turned her back on Richard, shooting Dean a small wink before stepping back out of the room.

“No, I don’t think that he does.” Richard said as soon as the door to the room had closed.

“What was that?” Dean turned to the other man and realized all pretense of being nice had been dropped.

“Castiel will not be needing a friend such as yourself. See, as soon as Castiel wakes up from this I intend to take him away from here. I think a change of scenery will do him some good after all this business with video games and virtual worlds. “ Richard reached out a hand and began running it along Castiel’s blanket covered leg. Dean’s eyes were glued to the way the man’s hand moved from the ankle upward until it came to a stop too high on Castiel’s thigh before giving a squeeze. “After all, Castiel will have me to distract him from the memory of that dreadful Supernatural game.” His stomach rolled at the way Richard massaged the weakened muscle beneath his fingers, practically groping the sleeping man.

Without thinking Dean moved around the foot of the bed and grabbed Richard Roman’s wrist, lifting his hand half an inch off Castiel’s leg. “Don’t touch him.” The words were barely more than a growl. Richard laughed at the display of protection as he jerked his hand away.

“You don’t seem to understand, Dean, Castiel is mine to touch however I like.” Richard paused to take a breath and tug on the ends of his jacket once again. “I don’t care what kind of relationship you and Castiel had in the game, here in the real world he belongs to me.” The way the man talked about Castiel, as if he was nothing more than an object, made Dean sick. “I don’t want to see you here ever again, Dean, and before you object, I am the one paying for this private room so I do have the right to demand that you stay out of it.” Richard stepped away, pausing with his back turned to Dean as if he didn’t warrant the respect of eye contact as he spoke his parting words. “You’ll have the room to yourself now, say good bye and get out.”

Dean listened to the soft click of the door shutting behind the man, sure that if they had been anywhere other than a hospital Roman would have slammed it to make his point. Stepping back to his chair, Dean sank into it with a broken sob. He reached out to take Castiel’s hand in his once more, laying his forehead against the back of the frail limb as he let himself give in to the tears of anger and pain.

 

 _“Dean I was thinking you and I could go out and get dinner tonight. Just you and me. Maybe we can talk. I mean really talk. And you know, maybe work things out. I miss you, Dean. Give me a call when you can. Bye.”_ Dean deleted the message as soon as it was finished, only having listened to it in case Lisa had said anything about Ben. Even if he hadn’t been in the hospital, he was pretty sure he would have ignored the call, not up to dealing with his ex. He let out a sigh as he ran a hand over his face, heading toward his car in the hospital parking lot.

When he had woken up in the hospital two months ago, Dean had been surprised to have Lisa visit an hour later. The next day when she had come in he had been awake enough to ask why she was there. Lisa had assured him that she still loved him, had loyally visited the hospital as often as she could, and was so happy for him to have woken up so they could be together again. Dean had been struck speechless, thankful when Nurse Mosley had came into the room with a sedative to help him get back to sleep. It wasn’t until her third visit that Dean finally told Lisa that he didn’t feel the same way.

At first he had felt terrible. What kind of a man was he to cheat on this woman who was waiting by his side as he continued to be locked inside a game. Virtual or not, he had started up a relationship with Castiel while Lisa had been waiting in the real world for him. His guilt had him reluctantly agreeing to her continued visits as long as he was in the hospital, each one filled to the brim with awkward silences and lingering glances. Dean refused to talk about his time in Supernatural. Lisa didn’t care enough to ask. At first he had no idea why she was drawing things out, they had been over before he had beta tested the game. By the time he had made the dive into Supernatural on that fateful day, it had only been a matter of who would break things off first and how. Then Lisa had brought Ben to visit, and Dean was reminded of why they had dragged things along for so long.

When Dean first met Lisa it was nothing more than a single passion filled weekend. They had both woken up on Monday, went their separate ways, and known that whatever they had it was going nowhere. Neither tried to call the other. Flash forward nine years and find Dean running into Lisa at a birthday party for his secretary’s kid. Lisa had assured Dean that Ben was not his, the timing had just been a coincidence, but the kid was enough to jump start a relationship between the two. Dean hadn’t even realized that he had been longing for a family, had thought he was happy with how his life had turned out, until he found himself thrown head first into baseball games, Saturday trips to the park, and family dinners. Dean found he loved it. But as time went on he realized he loved it more for his relationship with Ben than any feelings he had for Lisa.

Having Ben visit him in the hospital and seeing the drastic change in the atmosphere between that day and when it was just Dean and Lisa gave Dean the push he needed to just end things. He had invited her to dinner, just the two of them, his first night back in his own home, and had broken up with her after talking for hours without saying very much. Unfortunately Lisa wasn’t letting go as easily as Dean had hoped. She had shown up with Ben on numerous occasions to coax Dean into dinner with them, had volunteered many times to drive him to physical therapy before he was well enough to drive on his own, and on one very awkward occasion, had called Jess to invite her and Sam over for a double date. That had been the last straw for Dean. He had sat through the dinner politely before pulling Lisa to his car for a talk afterward and told her to stay out of his life.

Ben had shown up the next day distraught that he would have to stop seeing Dean as well. Fixing things with the kid so that they could still hang out without Dean having to see Lisa had been the whole reason for the visit the night before. Dean had thought that since having the talk, he would no longer be subject to phone calls like this one, but apparently he just wasn’t going to get a break.

With a sigh Dean climbed into the driver’s seat of his Chevy Impala and put the key in the ignition to warm the car up as he called Lisa back.

_”Dean! I’m so glad you called back! What do you think about having dinner with me tonight?_

“It’s not going to happen, Lisa. Hey, is Ben still coming over tomorrow?” Dean could hear the heavy sigh over the line.

_”Yes. But he has a project due for one of his classes, so I want him back by four at the latest so he can finish it up.”_

“Ok, yeah, that works for me. Tell him I’ll see him tomorrow morning then. Bye, Lisa.” Before she could say anything more, Dean hung up the phone and tossed it on the passenger seat before throwing the car in gear and pulling out of his parking space. 

Half an hour away from the hospital, Dean lived in a four bedroom townhouse that had been a bit of a fixer upper when he bought it. When he and Lisa had first started dating he had been dedicated to his sparsely furnished condo, loving the space and mess free simplicity of a bachelor pad. The longer he dated Lisa, the more he became involved in the family life she and Ben offered, the more Dean thought of making a home for the three of them. He had bought the house with the intention to invite Lisa and Ben to move in with him when he had fixed it up enough to be a family home. The longer it took, the more he saw the cracks in his and Lisa’s relationship, the more he dragged his feet on finishing the project. Almost two years asleep in a hospital meant there was a lot more work to be done than when he had first made the dive into Supernatural, but it gave Dean something to focus on with only half day work days and Castiel still asleep. At least now all the rooms were clean once more, and Dean had been able to sit down and rewrite his list of improvements still needing to be made. 

Pulling to a stop in front of the house, Dean put the car in park and looked up at the brick exterior of his house through the bare tree limbs. With all the work still to be done, he had to simply be thankful he had a house. Pellegrino had destroyed lives with his game. Those lucky enough to make it to the end woke up to find themselves without a job, thousands of dollars in debt because of bills, marriages failed, families split up, a world changed in the time they had been asleep to it all. More than once Dean had heard it expressed that the players that had died inside the game had been the lucky ones. Staring up at his home, knowing he had a job to go to on Monday, thinking about the kid that still wanted to hang out with him, Dean had to count his blessings. Somehow he was going to put Castiel back on that list. No way had he been given a handful of amazing months with the other man just to have him pulled away from his side by a video game and Richard Roman. Dean was going to get Cas back.

Dean climbed out of his car and shut the door, making sure to lock her up before heading up the walkway to his front door. Inside was quiet, too quiet, empty, just like it was every other day when he came home and was forced to feel the absence of Castiel in this real world. Heading into the room that would eventually be a home office, Dean turned on his computer before heading to the kitchen for a drink. Sitting back down at the small desk in the office, Dean clicked on his emails. As he had driven home from the hospital he had received notification of a new one.

 

 **Subject:** Take a look at this.

 **Sender** Victor

Dean, the following picture came across a coworker’s desk in conjunction with a case you have an interest in. Take a look and give me a call, we’ll talk. -Victor

 

Dean frowned at the vague wording of the email but clicked on the attachment anyway, wondering what an FBI agent he played Supernatural with had thought he would be interested in seeing. When the picture fully downloaded Dean let out a gasp and leaned in to look at the computer screen a little closer. The picture was blurry, and the figure’s face wasn’t exactly clear behind what looked like a bar from a cage, but there was no doubt in Dean’s mind. This was a picture of Castiel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope this first chapter was not horrible. I just had to let you know what has been happening since Dean woke up and that means a bit of a slow beginning. But stick with me and I promise things will pick up.


	2. Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I am so sorry about not posting last night, and I have a ton of excuses that I won't throw at you right now so that you can get to reading!  
> This is the last chapter packed with info, I hope. From now on there should be a lot more action as things move forward! Hope you still enjoy this one! This is where it really deviates from the show Sword Art Online, but I am still using the anime as a guideline!

Dean stepped into the bar, taking a moment just inside the door to give his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. Finally he was able to see enough to make out Victor sitting in a booth in a far back corner; the man wanted to make sure they weren’t overheard. Quickly Dean moved through the people crowding the bar just enough that he and his friend would go mostly unnoticed among those gathered on a Saturday evening just before sundown. 

“What’s the deal with the picture, Vic?” Dean asked as soon as he was sitting across the table from the other man.

“Well, hello to you, too, Winchester.” Victor’s smirk disappeared as soon as he realized what name he had used. “Shit, sorry, Dean. Force of habit I guess.” He shook his head and stared down at his half empty beer.

“It’s ok man, I should be the one apologizing. Things have just been strained since we woke up, you know, and this picture did not help.” A waitress approached and without saying a word Victor ordered a beer for Dean and another one for himself.

“Yeah, I know. This whole thing with the players that didn’t wake up has the guys at the Bureau up in arms.”

“So they are looking into things?” Dean leaned forward.

“Well yeah. From what I hear they did a lot of digging when Pellegrino sent out the message about us being locked into the game on launch day. Coworkers tell me they chased their tails for a couple of months but couldn’t find out where the guy had hid the servers or how to break into the hardware and keep it from frying our brains.” He shook his head and gulped down the last of his beer just as the waitress reappeared with fresh ones. With a nod, Victor thanked her and handed over a few bills to pay, waiting for the woman to leave once more before speaking again. “This newest development has the guys in charge simultaneously pissed off and confused. They can’t figure out why the three hundred didn’t wake, why those people were chosen out of the thousands that played Supernatural, or even where their minds are trapped. They are back to chasing their tails and they really hate that.”

“Roman Enterprises has the servers.” Dean offered. “At least they do now. I talked to Roman himself yesterday.”

“Yeah, he has the servers _now_. And supposedly he has a team trying to figure out what is going on.”

“Supposedly?”

“The FBI doesn’t trust Roman. But they don’t have any real evidence that he is behind the trapped players. They are working on it though; have some of the best guys working the case.”

“Like you?” Dean smirked.

“Actually, no.” Victor frowned and shook his head. “They took the handful of us that played Supernatural off the case. They have also _suggested_ we stay away from the nerve gear.”

“Sandover did the same to us, except they _recommended_ rather than suggested and only in an official capacity so they don’t look bad to outsiders. They still have some of the techies playing games for acquisitions. But hey, they are now offering counseling to help deal with the trauma.” Dean didn’t hide the way he felt about the newest developments in his company and Victor seemed to understand as he let out a dry laugh.

“Life goes on for them.” He took another long pull of his drink.

“It has to for us, too.” Dean added, staring at the other man for a long moment before bringing the subject of the picture back to the table. “So where does the picture come into play?”

Victor barked out a laugh. “Ironic choice of words, Dean.” He took a deep breath and leaned forward, placing a game on the table between them that Dean hadn’t noticed he had. “Check that out.”

“A game?” Dean frowned as he stared down at the cover. A player stood in the midst of a forest, his back visible, and a blade at his side; to one side, glaringly obvious in the black and white of the picture, was a blue swirling vortex of sorts.

“It’s a new MMO for the Amusphere, the device that replaced the Nerve Gear after our little trip.”

“A VRMMO, just like Supernatural.” Dean mumbled as his eyes scanned down to the bottom of the case. “Purgatory?” He raised his eyebrows as he looked back up at his friend. “Sounds upbeat.” Sarcasm filled his voice.

“I know, right.” Victor shook his head. “Apparently players are not getting enough of the fighting and destruction these types of games promote.” Victor shook his head and took another drink. “Anyway, Purgatory is known for monsters. As in you enter the game as one. PKing is encouraged. And it has a hardcore skills system.”

“What do you mean by ‘hard core’?”

“I mean, the game is not level based, it’s skill based. You have to use your skills over and over to improve, and combat depends on your real-life physical abilities.”

“Shit.” Dean frowned down at the game in his hand.

“There are no sword skills, not like we are used to. Other than that, it’s like Supernatural but with magic. Well, more than just that weird grace thing the Angels could do.”

“Ok.” Dean looked back up, placing the case back on the table. “So what does the game have to do with Cas?” 

Victor reached into his suite jacket and pulled out a couple of photos, laying them on the table on top of the game. “These pictures were taken in the game.” Dean’s eyes grew wide as he stared down at the photo on top. “So in the game there is some sort of secret portal.” Victor moved the photos and pointed at the swirl of blue on the cover. “Leads to some new land that everyone in the game is trying to find and gain access to. Only problem, it tends to move around. A group of players got close though, climbed some mountain ridge and saw it in the distance. But before they got close it moved on them. One of them snapped a picture of it. When they enhanced the images, trying to get a glimpse of what is beyond it, they saw something weird.” Victor lifted the bottom photo and placed it on top for Dean to get a closer look at. The picture showed plenty of foliage, like the branches of a tree, and through the leaves he could just barely make out a shape.

“A bird cage?”

“You could call it that. After zooming in on it as far as they could, they saw him.” Victor pointed at the other picture, the original he had sent Dean.

“Ok, but if it’s really Cas, what is he doing there?” Dean turned the case over, his eyes taking in the details of the game just as Victor reached to point out the game’s manufacturer. “Leviathan Games?” Dean looked up at his friend in confusion.

“Leviathan is owned by none other than Roman Enterprises.” Victor informed him.

“Son of a bitch.” Dean growled.

“Yeah, I thought you would put two and two together. The FBI has agents on it, but they are getting nowhere Dean. And none of them want to make the dive to see if they can find anything that way.” Victor knocked his knuckles on the table top as he took a deep breath. “And I gotta admit, even if the Bureau hadn’t put a nix on my participation in the case,” Victor shook his head “I don’t think I would have volunteered. Can’t say I’ll be making the dive again for a while.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Dean bit his lip as he stared at the picture of Castiel. “But this-” He tapped the picture before looking back up at his friend. “If this is really Cas-” Dean swallowed. “Can I borrow this for a couple of days?” He held up the game, never taking his eyes off Victor.

“Yeah, take it.” Victor nodded. “But Dean, be careful, man.”

“Hey, a game where it’s ok to die shouldn’t be that big a deal.” The words were strained, Dean missing the light hearted tone he had been going for. “I just- I got to do this. For Cas.”

Victor studied him for a long moment before he extended his hand in a fist. “The battle’s not over ‘till it’s over, right? Get him out and come back safe.” Dean smirked and bumped his own fist against his friend’s. 

“Hell yeah. And when I do, we’ll all get together, celebrate the actual end.” Dean stood, sliding the game into his jacket pocket. “Shit, I have to buy the gear for this thing.”

“Nah.” Victor shook his head as he stood as well. “It’s compatible with your Nerve Gear. The Amu-sphere is the same rig, just with better security.” The men headed for the door for the bar.

“Guess that’s a relief.” Dean smirked as they stepped out into the fresh air. The sun had set and Dean looked down at his watch, seeing that he was going to be late for dinner with Sam and Jess. “I better go, I’m supposed to meet up with Sam and his girl for dinner tonight.”

“Yeah? How’s he doing?”

“Better than me?” Dean offered with a sad smile. “Guy proposed.”

“Wow, good for him.” Victor smiled.

“Yeah, it really is. He’s real happy.”

“I bet. Well, give him my best. And I look forward to meeting his fiance at that party you’re planning.” Victor pointed at Dean as he stepped away to go to his own car. Dean’s laugh was genuine this time.

“You got it. Thanks for the information Victor.”

“No problem, man!” With a final wave of his hand, Victor climbed into a black sedan and Dean couldn’t help but chuckle at how cliche Victor was, FBI agent in his dark suite in his dark car. Dean turned to head for the Impala, feeling both closer to a solution for Castiel, and so much further from it as well. He had to make the dive again, something he never thought he would be hesitant to do until Supernatural. With a small shake of his head he climbed into his car and headed for Sam’s house across town.

 

“Hey, sorry I’m late.” Dean apologized as soon as Sam opened the door to let him into the apartment he shared with his fiance. “I got caught up talking to someone else and then there was an accident on nineteen.”

“I told you to stop taking nineteen.” Sam laughed with a shake of his head as he moved aside to let the other man into the apartment.

“Yeah, but I was across town and already running late. I thought I would shave some time.” Dean shrugged.

“You’re here now, and that’s what matters.” Jess said from the entrance to the kitchen. “But hurry up and get in here before dinner gets cold.” She laughed and gave Dean a hug.  
There had been no surprise when Sam opened his eyes that final day to see Jess sitting at his bedside. She had been there every day since he had been admitted, spending as much time as she could spare watching over him. When the nurses helped him take a drink of water to lubricate his throat to answer their questions he had used his first words to ask Jess to marry him. He asked again, with more thought and consideration on the proposal, three weeks later, after he had been allowed to go home. Jess had said yes both times.

Dean had apologized a thousand times for dragging Sam into Supernatural with him. Each time Jess had tried to assure him it was ok, they were home safe now, she understood, she didn’t blame him for anything. The last time, the night before Dean and Sam had gone back to work, Jess had looked at him with tears in her eyes and pulled him into a tight hug. Instead of offering assurances as she usually did, she had apologized as well. Sam had told her about Castiel. Dean held on tight to Jess for as long as she would let him, quietly crying into the shoulder of someone who understood exactly how he felt each time he walked into that hospital room. He had finally stopped apologizing. 

When Jess let him go the three walked to the kitchen table and set about making their plates, Dean filling his with a smile, knowing this was going to be a delicious meal just because Jess cooked it. Jess was the one to start conversation, offering up little tidbits about her job and coworkers to make the two men laugh. It was a very welcome distraction to hear about someone’s job that had absolutely nothing to do with gaming or virtual reality.

“So did you finally make an appointment with the company psychologist?” Sam asked quietly as he and Dean made their way into the living room. Jess had pushed them out of the kitchen so she could put up the left overs and load the dish washer. Dean shot a look back into the other room just in case, apprehensive at the thought of everyone knowing about the damn appointment.

“Yeah, Sam.” He sighed as he sat down on the couch. “I see her at one Monday. Just enough time for me to grab a quick lunch after I clock out.”

“It’s a good thing, Dean, I really believe that.”

“I know.” Dean frowned. 

“And hey, the faster you can get in and talk to her a few times, the quicker they will bump you back up to your old hours.” Sam offered hopefully.

“Yeah, there’s that.” Dean sighed as he ran a hand over the back of his neck.

“So, um, how’s Castiel doing?” Sam finally asked. It was usually Jess who did it, her sweet voice and hopeful nature almost making it worse when Dean had to tell them there was no change. Now here Sam sat looking pained as he asked the almost obligatory question.

“The same.” Dean nodded. “I, uh, I went to see him today.” He closed his eyes as he wondered if he should mention Richard Roman, how the man insisted he was Castiel’s boyfriend, how he had demanded Dean stay away. But that line of events still caused that tight feeling in Dean’s chest, so he reached for something else. “I also talked to Victor today, and he gave me what might be a lead on why Cas and the others haven’t woken up.”

“What?” Sam scooted to the edge of the chair he now sat on, leaning forward with his elbows planted on his knees. 

“Yeah, some players were trying to figure this game out.” Dean pulled the case from his jacket and tossed it on the table between them. “Took a picture _in-game_ and it looks a hell of a lot like Cas.” Dean reached back into the pocket and pulled out the pictures. They followed the same arch the game had before landing in its place, Sam now holding the case to read the back.

“Are you serious?” Sam raised wide eyes to his friend and Dean had trouble working out the emotions there. A little fear, some curiosity, maybe a bit of hope, a lot of hesitation. “So the FBI is looking into it?”

“Into the players still asleep, sure. Into the game?” Dean bobbed his head side to side as he winced. “Marginally. They won’t risk their agents going into the game, don’t want them getting trapped like we did. Even though people are playing it without problem.”

“Well, if they are playing it than how are the three hundred trapped in it?” Sam frowned.

“Don’t know. It’s just a lead. A couple clues. Some work to figure it out.”

“Work?” Sam’s brows furrowed as he stared hard at his friend for a long moment before he let out a resigned sigh. “You’re going to play it aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yup. I gotta find him, Sam.” Dean locked his hands together, watching as Jess entered the room and moved to sit on the armrest of the chair her fiance occupied.

“Then I’ll go in there with you.” Sam was staring hard at Dean, missing the way Jess tensed beside him, or maybe he was ignoring it. Dean couldn’t though, he was watching her closely as he shook his head.

“No, Sam, I can do this one on my own.”

“Come on, Dean. We make a great team. And having me in there to help you may make it go faster.”

“No, Sam. You already gave up too much to Supernatural. Live in the real world for a while. I got this. I’m on half days at work, only get to see Ben two days a week, and I have absolutely no social life. I can do this on my own just fine.” Dean saw the way Jess bit her bottom lip as she waited to hear Sam’s response.

“Fine.” Sam pouted. Jess let out a silent breath. “But here, take this number.” Sam leaned forward and grabbed a notepad and pen from a drawer in the table before he began writing. “There’s a woman named Charlie Bradburry, she works for Roman Enterprises.” Sam waved a hand at the game that sat back on the table, missing the way Dean’s eyes grew wide. “The company that took over monitoring the servers for Supernatural. She’s on the team working with Sandover-”

“Hold on, why?” Dean frowned as Sam looked up at him.

“Because Sandover is looking to make a deal with Roman Enterprises, still trying to get into the platform and games that they were working with Pellegrino on.” Sam squinted at his friend. “You didn’t know?”

“No!” Dean took a deep breath. “No, they took me off all VR cases for the time being. Hell, right now I am delegated to internal paperwork, making sure employees file the right paperwork for the right shit.”

“Oh, well…” Sam nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, the bosses still want to make the deal, even after drawing it out while everyone was still playing Supernatural. With everything that Pellegrino was working on in Roman’s hands they just refocused their efforts. Charlie is one of the tech workers from Roman’s side working with our teams. She’s a genius when it comes to computers, more genius than me. And she’s cautious, not overly fond of this little partnership. But she is good at her job and is making sure that everything runs smoothly from the tech end.” Sam held out the paper with a name, number, and email address on it. “Maybe she can give you a little more insight into how Cas could get switched from Supernatural to this Purgatory without waking up.” Suddenly Sam snapped his fingers and jumped up from the chair. “Oh, wait, I also have something for you.” And he was gone from the room without another word.

“Thanks for convincing him not to play.” Jess’s voice was soft and Dean knew it was only partly to keep Sam from hearing. 

“Of course. I’m not going to risk taking him from you like that again. Not any time soon.”

“I’m not asking him to give up gaming permanently, it’s something he enjoys a lot. But… I just need some time with him again. And maybe a little more reassurance that it won’t happen again.” She stared down at her hands as she twisted her fingers about.

“I hear the new setups have more security.” Dean offered lamely, but it had Jess laughing lightly anyway.

“Yeah, maybe.” She bit her lip as she finally looked up. “Maybe, bring Castiel and the others back.”

“Yeah, ok.” Dean nodded and smiled. “I can do that.”

“Hey, here.” Sam came striding back into the room holding out a small black flash drive.

“What’s this?” Dean asked as he reached out for it.

“It’s Claire.” 

Dean almost choked on his startled gasp, suddenly holding the small item in a tight fist. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Sam grinned. “I mean, it’s her programming. I told you I saved it to my gear when I cheated the system. Well there she is. Give it to Charlie and she can help you integrate her into your own gear. Maybe you can see her again in this new game.”

“Yeah, that would be awesome.” Dean smiled and blinked rapidly, stopping the tears before they could fall. “Ok, well I better be getting home. I guess I have a lot to do tomorrow.” He picked the game and photos back off the table as he stood, placing them in his pockets with the zip drive and piece of paper.

“Make sure you keep me updated, ok?” Sam said as he walked Dean to the door.

“Sure thing, Sam.” Dean smiled and gave Jess a wave before he stepped out of the apartment. “And I’ll see you in the office on Monday.”

“Absolutely. Drive safe, Dean.” 

Dean gave a wave over his shoulder as he began walking away. His mind already working through what he would be able to get done the next day before he had to report to his job bright and early Monday morning. A shiver ran down his back as soon as he mentally added ‘make a dive into Purgatory’ to his list.

 

When Dean got home from the hospital the next morning, because like hell was he going to give in to Roman’s threats and stay away from Cas, he was surprised to find a woman sitting on his doorstep. He shuffled his keys in his hand as his steps slowed.

“Um, hello?” He came to a stop in front of her as he spoke but she made no move. Reaching a foot out he tapped the toe of his boot against her rainbow checkered Converse. 

“Shit!” She yelped as she jerked backward in shock, looking up at him with wide eyes. Quickly she pulled the buds from her ears and Dean realized why she hadn’t heard him, he could hear the music from where he stood over her.

“Think you got that turned up loud enough?” He frowned as he reach out a hand to help her up.

“Drowns out the voices.” She laughed as she dusted her bottom off and picked up her messenger bag.

“Who are you?”

“Oh! Right! Sorry.” She thrust her hand back out as she grinned up at him. “I’m Charlie.” Dean shook her hand slowly.

“You’re early.” He twisted his wrist to get a look at his watch. “Like, way early.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, but I figured you would want to get started on this as soon as you could.” She shrugged, sliding a finger under the strap of her bag to lift it higher.

“Actually yeah.” Dean sighed and waved his hand for her to follow him as he climbed the steps to the front door. He had done as Sam had asked and emailed Charlie as soon as he got home the night before, telling her briefly where he had gotten her contact info from and that he wanted to talk to her about the players still asleep. He hadn’t known how much he could share in an email, but it had been a private address so he had felt a little more at ease. “Did Sam tell you he played Supernatural?” Dean asked as he led the woman further into his house. 

“Yeah, but only in the interest of full disclosure back when I first met the team. I get the impression that the players don’t really like talking about it.” As Charlie walked slowly behind him, taking in all the disorder that was his home in progress, Dean let himself do the same to her. She was shorter than him, average for a woman he supposed, but the way she carried herself seemed so much bigger. All the color in her outfit from the rainbow shoes to the army green skinny jeans with the purple screen printed t-shirt under an unzipped pink hoodie and blue jacket made her bright red hair blend in a little more, even as she in general would stick out just about anywhere. In Dean’s dark and dusty living room where the couch was currently covered by a gray drop cloth, she stood out even more.

“Well, I played with him. Beat the game actually.” Dean said just before crossing the threshold into the kitchen. He heard the soft gasp the woman let out before she was stumbling to follow him.

“Really?” She stared at him with wide eyes from the doorway.

“You want some coffee? I think I’m gonna need coffee.” His back was to her as he moved around the kitchen setting up the coffee maker to make its second pot of the day. And it wasn’t even noon. He was leaning against the counter in front of the machine with a sigh when he realized that he still had his keys fisted in one hand, the grooves of the metal digging into his palm.

“You, um, you don’t have to tell me anything.” Charlie said in a hushed tone and Dean finally turned to look at her. Suddenly she seemed much smaller, curled in on herself, similar to the way Dean’s shoulders were hunched in.

“You know someone who played the game?” Dean asked softly. If she had played Sam would have said something. Maybe they should start a support group, it would be easier to recognize the people effected, make it easier to avoid talking about the subject with those people. Maybe that defeated the purpose of a support group. Dean frowned.

“My mom.” It was barely a whisper and Dean was scared to hear the next part. “She’s part of the group of players that haven’t woken up.” Dean let out a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan as he leaned against the counter and drew a hand down his face. “She, um, well, I was supposed to play the game, had bought my copy and had it sitting on my desk waiting. But I had something else to do.” Charlie let out a wet laugh and Dean looked up to see the woman was holding back tears. “Actually, I was out doing live action role play. Seems ironic that I was out doing the real life version of the damn game.” She shook her head and brushed at her eyes. “My mom was on this kick to better understand my interests because I had just come home from college and she thought I had changed. Not really, I just found more people that shared my interests and so I was more open about it.” She bit her lip and looked up at Dean, seeming to pull herself back together as she straightened up. “Anyway, she logged in to the game to check it out. I didn’t even know until I got back late the next day and my phone was blowing up with notifications from news groups, forums, friends.” 

Dean squinted at her as his brain worked out all that she had said. “You didn’t work for Roman at the time.” It wasn’t a question. She had just graduated from college. There was no way.

“Nope. But they had offered me a job. After I pulled myself together I did a shit ton of research. I wanted to apply to Cavea, but by that point they were already deep in the dog house. Then I found Roman and discovered that they hold control of the servers. I can keep my eye on my mom from a distance while I try to figure out what the hell went wrong.”

He nodded and pulled two mugs from the cabinet above the maker. “How loyal are you to Roman?” Again his back was to her, it was like he was in a confessional, hearing the other person tell their darkest secrets and giving them the privacy to do it fully.

“The man or the company?”

“Both?” Dean frowned as he turned back to face her. He didn’t know how priests did it, he needed to see the look in her eye as she spoke about this.

“Not so much to either I guess. I mean I took the job for my mom. I stick with the job for my mom. But I’ve never met the man and the company is kinda hard assed.” Dean let out a startled laugh at her words.

“Sounds a lot like my job.” He mumbled. “Coffee?” He asked again.

“Sure. Cream and sugar?” Dean pointed at the fridge before reaching out for the container of sugar sitting on the counter. He pushed both it and one of the mugs to the side for Charlie to take. As she focused on the drink in front of her, mixing in copious amounts of both additives, Dean decided to speak.

“I met a guy in the game… and… we, uh…” He rubbed his chin. “We grew close.” Charlie looked up at him for a brief moment before nodding her head and turning back to intently stirring the coffee. “Anyway, he helped me beat the game, in the end. But then he didn’t wake up.” Dean crossed the kitchen and grabbed up his jacket from the back of a chair at the table. Bringing it back to his spot next to Charlie, he dug through it for the pictures and game. “This is him.”

“Kinda blurry.” Charlie mumbled as she stared down at the game.

“It was taken from a distance in-game and zoomed in as much as they could.”

“But you’re sure it’s him?” She looked him in the eye.

“Absolutely.”

“Ok.” She nodded firmly and put the picture down. “This the game?” She picked up Purgatory and turned it over to look at the front cover. “I’ve played this. A couple times actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I didn’t like it much though. I mean, I’m ok with PKing, I guess, but this game is, like, all about it. If you want to make it anywhere in this you end up doing it a lot. And that’s just not my thing.” She shrugged as she placed it back down on the counter. “Had my boss take me off the analysis team and everything.”

“What?” Dean furrowed his brow as he leaned down a little more to get a closer look at her. Charlie took a deep breath and turned the game over to point down at the creator’s logo on the back.

“Roman Enterprises does work with Leviathan. Lots of it. Mostly it’s because Leviathan is small, needs the back up from our company, a lot like Cavea was actually. Only, Leviathan is also secretly owned by Roman in a very round about, hardly traceable, squint your eyes and tilt your head kind of way.”

Dean let out a long breath. “I had heard that, yeah.”

Charlie lifted wide eyes up to him. “You think Roman has something to do with the trapped players.”

“I’m making the connection yes. But I don’t know if it’s there, a coincidence, or my seeing things because apparently he is the boyfriend of the guy I fell for.”

“The guy that didn’t wake up?” She shook her head. “That’s kind of a big coincidence.”

“That’s what I think.”

“So, you want to play the game and see if you can find him.”

“Exactly.”

“And I come into play in this whole thing how?” Charlie wore a small smile as she crossed her arms over her chest and Dean suspected she already had an idea of what he was going to ask.

“Sam said you’re a tech genius.”

“Wow, bringing out the flattery. Go on.”

“I was wondering if you could get me insider info, maybe better maps than the players are given outright, any other help you could. This picture was taken through the portal in the game, so I need to find it as quickly as I can.” He waited as she seemed to think it over.

“Yeah, ok. If you think this will help get the players back.” She nodded quickly. “I’ll help in any way I can.” Dean smiled but it faltered when she held up a finger. “But… I can’t go in game with you. The company logs all my hours and info when I make a dive with my gear. I can erase it, cover my tracks, but it would take time since any Leviathan games are locked down hard core. And that’s time away from helping you in other ways. So, sorry,” she shrugged, “you’re on your own in that world.” She tapped the game.

“That’s fine by me. The less people making a dive at my request these days, the better.” He reached into his pocket for the zip drive he carried with him. “Plus, I have a companion already.” He held it up between them. “Could you load this programming into my nerve gear for me?”

“Easy.” She grinned. “Where’s your rig?” 

Dean led her to the office where he had once more set up his VR equipment the night before. When they had taken him to the hospital they had been forced to take everything with him, leaving a bare corner in the room it had all once occupied. It had taken him an hour to get it all set back up the way he had it, but it had felt familiar to see it in the corner as he had worked out the email to Charlie.

“You should upgrade, more security.” Charlie said as she sat down on the twin bed Dean would be laying in when he made the dive.

“So I’ve been told. Maybe after all this. If I ever play again.” Dean shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah, I get it.” Charlie nodded as she pulled a laptop from her bag and plugged in a port on his helmet. 

They were quiet as she worked, tapping away at her laptop, screen flashing with programs and codes that were beyond Dean so he didn’t even try to lean in and watch. Instead he sat down at his desk chair and leaned back, trying to calm his pounding heart. He was going to step back into virtual reality for the first time since waking up from Supernatural. And while he was determined, needing to get Cas back somehow, even he could admit to being hesitant and just a touch terrified. 

“Ok, that’s all that I have right now.” Charlie shut her laptop and disconnected it from the equipment laying on the pillow at her hip. “Now that I know what I am looking for, what our goal is, I can dig deeper.” She stood. “But I am going to need my set up at home. I can do a lot with a laptop, but not so much this one and not so much right now.” She slid the computer back into her messenger bag and hooked it on her shoulder. “And every time you go in, the second thing I want you doing after you get back IRL is emailing me all the info you can. The more I know about the game, the more I can look for possible coding errors or hiding places.”

Dean nodded stiffly as he re-positioned himself in his chair. “What’s the first thing I do?”

“Hydrate.” Charlie grinned.

“Yeah, I can do that.” Dean slowly stood, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans as soon as the openings were available. “Um, I was wondering.”

“Yes?” She raised large eyes to look at him as he swallowed, taking his time with the next sentence.

“Can you stay here? Just for this first dive. And I’ll make it a short one, just to kind of take a look at the game, the program you uploaded to my kit, and the log out button.” He shrugged and his shoulders stayed up by his ears.

“Oh.” Her smile slipped for a beat before she nodded emphatically and moved to the side to trade him seats. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks.” Dean breathed out and felt his shoulders sink once more. “Ok. Let’s do this, I guess.” Dean approached the bed and slowly lifted the helmet to his head before sliding it into place. Was it crazy that there may be grooves above his ears, along the back of his skull from the damn thing, making it fit in place like a puzzle piece. Dean tried not to think about how those grooves would have gotten there. He was probably imagining them anyway. 

Laying back on the bed he stared at the ceiling through the tinted visor of the nerve gear long enough to take a couple of deep, steadying breathes.

**"Link start."**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, those excuses. See my father-in-law has a pit bull puppy named Olive Oil that was recently hit by a car. Her front two legs are broken. Since I am a stay at home mom I have offered to take care of her during the day which is exhausting. You try keeping a six month old pup from trying to stand when she wants to play with the other dogs, it's heartbreaking. But we love her and I do it willingly. That being said I am asking for help from all you wonderful readers. Part of the problem right now is that he can't afford the surgery on her legs to get them fixed and her back to healing properly. We have a vet willing to do it a lot cheaper than normal, but, well, you know how it goes. So I'm going to leave their gofundme page here if you don't mind. If you can donate that is incredible! If you can share the link amongst friends, that would be just as helpful! Thank you all you amazing people that support my soul by liking my writing, that makes you beautiful in my book. And if you could help this precious girl out, that would be amazing too!  
> So this is long after the fact, but just in case anyone reads the end notes, I thought I should let you all know how Olive is doing. She got the surgery, she healed up, and while she walks a little funny most days, she is doing great! She adjusted to her situation well enough that she runs around and plays with her brother as if nothing happened! Thanks to anyone who donated!


	3. Another Dive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my dear readers, do you know how much I love you? Enough that when I was only a few hundred words from finishing the chapter and my computer crashed and I lost it all, I calmly (after much cussing) sat down and rewrote everything I could remember, by hand, and got up early this morning to type it all again. So, if this chapter is a little less than wonderful, remember my love for you.
> 
> And note, I do not own Supernatural or Sword Art Online, both of which have better writers than me! And from this point on the story will divert a great deal from these two sources I am using for inspiration. Hope you enjoy it!

**"Link start."**

Dean closed his eyes and the real world faded away. White light filled his mind before color flared and surrounded him. Link prompts appeared in a rapid succession as the system booted up and the game loaded. Selecting English as his language, Dean was thrown into the start-up menu.

He found himself in a large circular room, orange rings expanding outward on the floor from where he stood. Suddenly thousands of screens lit up blue along the walls and a voice filled everything.

_Welcome to Purgatory!_

A keyboard appeared in the air in front of him,

_Please enter your gender and the name you wish to be identified as._

Dean hesitated for only a moment before typing away on the keys available.

**Winchester**

Then there appeared in the air above him various characters that seemed to rotate on a carousel, each one pausing for a moment in front of him before the next rotated in. He studied them, seeing what must be a vampire, only instead of the traditional fangs it opened its mouth to reveal all of its teeth sharpened and deadly. Then came what could only be a werewolf somewhere in middle of a transformation, back arched, head thrown back in what must have been a howl, elongated snout and a tail wrapping around one leg showing its canine half. Another with scaled skin, smoke curling from a slightly open mouth, and hands engulfed in flames could have been some sort of human-form dragon. A woman with arms outstretched downward had spikes extended from her wrists, and Dean had no clue what she was.

_There are nine races of monster to choose from. Please select which race you wish to play as._

Dean noticed each creature wore clothing of a different color, probably to help identify from a distance. Black caught his eye. The character now in front of him blinked slowly, drawing Dean's attention to the eye. An inky black all the way around. Dean smirked and selected the creature.

_You have select Demon._

Dean let out a low groan at realizing he had selected the one creature he had tried so hard to avoid while playing Supernatural.

_Your character's appearance will be selected at random. Do you wish to continue?_

With a shrug Dean agreed.

_You will now be teleported to your home town in Demon territory. Good luck player!_

White light filled the room with a flash before disappearing and leaving Dean in what he could only describe as a void. Slowly he began to "feel" his body beginning to take form. The code came together and pieced him out bit by bit. Hands clenched into fists and released. Legs bent and relaxed. Dean could even imagine he felt his heart start to beat and air fill new lungs. It felt like coming home. After nearly to years in Supernatural, Dean had missed the feel of a virtual body over the past two month. He smiled at the familiar, almost comforting tingle of programming in his being.

Looking around he found himself in a 3-D rendering of the image on the game's cover. A forest surrounded him, colors muted as if whatever passed for a sun in the game was hiding behind clouds. Turning in a circle he saw nothing but trees. So much for beginning in a ton. Rolling his shoulders, Dean waved his right hand in the air in front of him.

Nothing happened.

Trying to stay calm, he made the motion twice more before his hand fell to his side and he tried to take in a steadying breath. He lifted his left hand and made the same downward sweeping motion.

His menu appeared.

With a slight shake in his hand he selected the settings option.

There it was, just below the "Options" and "Help" buttons.

**Logout**

He pressed it with the tip of his index finger, letting out a sigh of relief as he hit the cancel button. The option was there. He could leave whenever he wanted. But first he had to check on something else before he could quit. Shifting backward to his stats, Dean took in his character profile. With a frown he noticed his level was already at 96, he had skills he shouldn't have as a beginning player, and he was pretty sure he had way more money that he should. Had Charlie tampered with his character? Clicking on his items he felt his breath hitch as everything appeared as a series of question marks. Quickly he scrolled through the list, eyes frantically searching. There!

**MHCP001**

Dean selected the item and a small crystal appeared in the air in front of him. Hesitantly he reached out his hand and as the tips of hi fingers touched the faceted surface the crystal flashed a brilliant blue. Dean moved his hand to shield his eyes, only lowering it as the light finally faded. There, in front of him, was a small figure delicately clad in a flowing white dress and no shoes.

"Claire?" It was an awed whisper. Dean cleared his throat and spoke again as the girl's eyes opened. "Hey Claire, you remember me?" He spread his arms wide, giving her more to see as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I do. I remember you, Daddy." Tears pooled in her eyes and she launched herself into his arms. "Daddy!" He hugged her tight. As he held her his mind drifted to memories of them together in Supernatural, moments they had shared with Castiel as a family. It was a bittersweet reunion without the Angel. After a long moment, Dean let go of Claire enough to lead her to sit on a fallen tree, his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders as soon as they were seated. 

"So, do you know where you are? Or what's going on?" Dean asked, letting out a long sigh as Claire shook her head no. "Oh, well, we're not in Supernatural any more. We are in a completely different game now called Purgatory."

"I need a few seconds to access it." Closing her eyes, Claire lifted her fingertips to her temples. Dean watched with a small smile as her eyes moved rapidly behind the delicate, simulated skin of her eyelids. "From what I can tell this world has been copied from the Supernatural servers." Opening her eyes, Claire looked up at him.

"Really?" Dean furrowed his brow.

"Yes. The engine, programming, and graphics format are exactly the same. The Cardinal system needs updating, but that's the only thing that sticks out to me."

Dean hummed as he thought. "That makes sense I guess. Cavea was the company running Supernatural. When they folded Leviathan took over. And if Leviathan's already got all of Cavea's technology, it figures they poured it over. Although, when I checked I still had all my old skills and stats. I thought it was thanks to Charlie, but maybe it's because of the copy."

"Charlie?" Claire frowned.

"Someone on the outside helping me."

"I'll take a look at your data and see what I find." Once more she closed her eyes. "Very interesting. You're right. This is the same character data you used when you ere in Supernatural. The formatting for saved data is almost identical. Whatever skills you had that were similar in both games were ported over and merged."

"And that's why my dual wielding skill is gone. Damn."

"Not just that. All your items seemed to be lost, too. You might want to delete them before the error detection program finds out about it."

"I guess I better do that." Dean shifted through his menu until he got to his item storage. With a wince and a heavy sigh he approved the delete all action. Two years of work just gone. "Ok, so what do I do about my skill level?"

"No one else can see it. Well, no one except the game master and as long as he doesn't you should be ok."

"Awesome." Dean said dryly. "Guess I'm not a Beater anymore, just a plain ol' cheater." He shrugged and looked back down at Claire. "How are you being identified by the system?" Again she closed her eyes, touched her temple, and searched the programming.

"Let's see. It's classifying me as a player support program. In the world of the game I'm a Navigation Pixie." As soon as the world left her lips she began to glow and change. Once the light had faded and Dean could open his eyes again he saw Claire was now only as big as his hand with a different, delicate dress and wing that kept her aloft in front of his face. He let out a chuckle.

"Well hello little Navi."

"I'm still me, Daddy."

"It's...nevermind. So, you had Admin privileges in Supernatural. Do you still have them?"

"No. The system will only allow me to access the wide area maps and the reference database."

"Oh. Ok." Dean nodded and took in a deep breath, turning to look at the forest that surrounded them. "Listen Claire, I think your Papa might be stuck in here somewhere."

"Papa! Really? What do you mean he's stuck?"

"After Supernatural was cleared Castiel never woke up in the real world. I found out he might have been seen here in Purgatory. There's a picture but it's too blurry to tell for sure."

"What are we going to do?"

"Well, I've got a pretty good idea where he might be. There's a portal leading to another part of the game. I've just got to find it."

"And Pap's there? Really?"

"Yeah." Dean thought for a moment. "Hey, hang on a second. I as supposed to start the game in Demon territory. So how come I ended up here in the middle of nowhere?"

"I don't know." Claire flitted over and sat on his shoulder. "Your location data may be corrupted or perhaps there was some interference?"

"Either way, it would have been nice if the game had dropped me closer to other players so I could get information." Slowly, careful not to jostle Claire, Dean stood. "Well, I have to go. I just wanted to check things out, see you, make sure the logout worked. But I'll be back soon and we can start looking for Cas, ok?"

"Ok Daddy." Claire lifted off him and hovered in the air, watching as Dean flicked through his menus and selected the logout button.

The world of Purgatory faded and Dean opened his eyes to see through his visor the smiling, hovering face of Charlie.

"You made it back!" The relief was evident in her voice as she moved back so that Dean could sit up.

"Yeah. Thanks for waiting around." After pulling the Nerve Gear from his head, Dean ran a hand through his hair to ruffle it.

"So-" Whatever she might have asked was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing through the house.

"Oh, shit." Dean stood and left the room quickly, assuming Charlie would follow. He opened the front door and smiled at Ben standing on his front step. "Hey, kiddo." Lifting his eyes, Dean noticed Lisa leaning against the front gate, arms crossed over her chest, frown firmly in place. He lifted a hand to wave, but before the motion was complete she had turned and walked back to her car.

"Mom's not so happy right now." Ben grimaced as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"Yeah, I got that." Dean moved to allow the boy tot enter the house. As he closed the door he turned to find Charlie standing in the hall and Ben staring openly at her. "Oh, hey, Ben this is Charlie. She's a coworker. Charlie, this is Ben." His words stalled, unsure of how he could accurately introduce the boy.

"Hi!" If Charlie noticed the hanging introduction, she didn't show it. "So, I'll be going. I'll see you at work tomorrow." She shifted the strap of her bag further onto her shoulder as she moved around them, heading for the front door. "Remember, keep me informed on the project, Dean."

"Will do." He nodded and held the door open, waiting until she had reached the sidewalk before he closed it once more. "So, what do you say we have some lunch. You hungry?" Dean led the way to the kitchen, closing the door to his office firmly as he passed.

As Dean began looking through the fridge, trying to figure out a meal, Ben fell into a chair at the kitchen table with a sigh.

"I only get to be here for a few hours." He grumbled.

"Yeah, your mom mentioned a project." Dean glanced over his shoulder, closing the fridge and turning to lean against the counter when he had seen the completely dejected look on the boy's face. "Hey, everything ok?"

"Mom dated, you know." The words seemed to burst forth on their own, leaving Ben just as shocked by them as Dean.

"You mean, near the end?" Dean chewed his lip as he tried to work out what more to say. He had felt so guilty when he had woken up in the hospital and found out that Lisa had been waiting for him while he was in the game trying to start a relationship with Castiel. The fact that she hadn't waited the entire time, that perhaps they had both begun to move on around the same time helped to lessen that particular burden. "It's understandable. You know-"

"No." Ben shook his head furiously and Dean wondered if the boy had been keeping this in for some time now. "No, like a few days after..." He bit his bottom lip and stared down at his fidgeting hands. Dean waited for him to continue. "She didn't know about the game. I overheard her talking to a friend of hers a little while after it all started. She thought that you just weren't answering her calls. So she went on a date." He finally lifted his eye to look at the older man who was thinking about who he had made the dive into the game for exactly that reason, to avoid Lisa.

"Look, Ben." Dean let out a long breath and moved to sit in a chair, leaning his crossed arms on the table top. "I'm just going to lay it out there. Ok? Your mom and I, we were falling apart. If I hadn't been playing the game we would have ended things after another week or two at most. I don't hold it against her that she was trying to move on. It wouldn't have been fair to either of us, expecting her to wait while I was trapped in Supernatural."

"What about me? What's fair to me?" Ben said petulantly and Dean was reminded that thought Ben had been through a lot the past two years, watching the world change around him as thousands lay in comas fighting for their lives, he was still just a thirteen year old boy.

"Hey, we are working it out so that you get us both, ok? No matter how upset with me your mom is, she's not going to stop you from seeing me. She knows we're good together, you and I." Dean waited until Ben was looking him in the eye once more to continue speaking. "Trust me, it wouldn't have been fair to you, either, if we had kept pushing for something that just wasn't there. It's better this way, I promise." Slowly Ben nodded, taking in shaky breaths. "Ok, what do you say we go get some pizza at The Slice? We can load up on grease and cheap arcade games too primitive for VR." Ben smiled and nodded again and Dean clapped him on the shoulder as he stood. "Awesome, let's go."

They spent the rest of their time together at their favorite pizzeria just a few blocks from Dean's house. The only topics allowed for conversation were light ones like how school was going for Ben and what projects Dean had planned for the house that Ben could help with. By the time Lisa called to pick him up, Ben seemed in a much better mood than when he had arrived. And maybe it was seeing her son smile so brightly that had Lisa offering a little wave to Dean as she pulled away from the house.

Dean considered the day a win. But that did nothing to help him sleep that night. The house too quiet, the bed too big, his arms too empty. The prospect of getting started in figuring things out with Purgatory the next day was the only thing that had him slipping, finally, into a fitful slumber.

 

Monday morning Dean's schedule was supposed to change with the start of his therapy and dives into Purgatory no on the agenda. He started the change by spending a half hour standing in the doorway of his home office drinking two cups of coffee and staring at the Nerve Gear sitting on the cot in the corner. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut as he tried to think about when and for how long he would be playing the game. Finally he had to leave for work.

He spent five hours sitting at his desk filing paperwork and only occasionally meeting with people to discuss the paperwork they had misfiled or filled out incorrectly. It was monotonous work, but it kept his thoughts focused on the job at least.

Not once did he see Sam or Charlie, but it wasn't unusual and he didn't dwell on it as he left the office and headed for the psychologists office where he tried to shut down the thoughts of the Purgatory and Supernatural now creeping up on him as he sat int he waiting room.

"Hello, Mr. Smith." Dr. Pamela Barnes smiled brightly as she ushered Dean into her office. She wasn't what he as expecting, at all. Beautiful, she had dark brown hair that fell in loose curls just past her shoulders and a smile that ended in dimples below high cheek bones. She was small, slim, but had an air about her that made her seem to take up more space. Dean suspected part of it was due to the heels he caught sight of just below the cuffs of her jeans. He couldn't help the smirk as he took in the sight of her Ramones tank top beneath the blazer that pushed her relaxed outfit just slightly into the side o professional. Dean suddenly felt overdressed in his tailored business suit and he wondered if he should continue to pack a spare set of clothes to change into as he had while attending physical therapy. "Please, take a seat." She waved a hand to indicate the three overstuffed club chairs and, of course, a chaise lounge, as she led him further into the room.

Dean took a chair.

With a small smile, Dr. Barnes sat down in another chair, a low coffee table sat between them holding a few magazines and a vase with a single flower. Dean let himself look around the rest of the room as he sat on the edge of the chair, unable to relax into it. Two of the four walls held floor to ceiling bookshelves packed with books and the occasional knick knack. The third wall, across from the door Dean had entered by held a wide window with blinds half drawn to let enough light in to make the room comfortable. Lamps sparsely placed would keep the mood lighting set once the sun had gone down.

"So, uh, how do we do this?" Dean asked finally, turning to look at Dr. Barnes fully.

"Why don't we start with you telling me a little about yourself."

"Well, my name is Dean. I'm an Aquarius. I like sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women." Dr. Barnes had a wonderful laugh where her head fell back and her shoulders shook.

"I'll keep all that in mind." She said with a smirk.

"For future reference, Doc?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"That wouldn't be professional of me, would it?" He smile was definitely wicked. "Do you have a significant other?" As both Dean's eyebrows rose she let out a smaller chuckle. "Trying to get to know you Dean."

"Um, no, not currently." He licked dry lips. "It's complicated."

"How about family?"

"I'm sorry, what does this have to do with Supernatural? I mean, that's why I'm here, right?"

"It is, yes. Technically I'm trying to get a sense of you, Dean. Did you have someone waiting for you while you were in the game? Do you have someone now, outside of me, to talk to about the game and it's affects on you? How has it affected you not only physically, which I suspect has been taken care of with PT, but also emotionally and in relation to other people. What about your sleep schedule, eating habits, _drinking habits_?" She waited for him to consider all these things, watching for his slow nod. "Ok, so, family?"

"It's, um, complicated."

Dr. Barnes smiled sweetly as she opened a notebook he hadn't noticed and took a quick note.

They spent the next forty minutes talking about everything. She asked about all the things she had listed and more. He told her about Ben, prompting more questions, his job, his home repairs, and other habits. By the end of it she knew more about him than anyone else, but then he guessed that was kind of the point. Well, except for Castiel. The Angel had learned so much about Dean as they had grown close in the game, and Dean kept the man to himself, somehow keeping from mentioning him at all as he spoke to Dr. Barnes.

"Ok, Dean. I think that's enough for today." Dr. Barnes closed the notebook and tucked it into her lap before leaning forward, elbows on her knees as she clasped her hands together. "If you are comfortable with it, I would like to continue to meet weekly."

"I don't think I have much of a choice." Dean grumbled as he ran a hand over the back of his neck.

"On the contrary, the choice is all yours. While Sandover has recommended that you talk to me, they can't actually make you speak, and I'm sure not going to be telling anyone whether or not you attend the sessions. Confidentiality and all." She winked at him.

Dean took a deep, steadying breath. "Yeah, Mondays work."

"Excellent." She smiled brightly. "I look forward to talking with you next week." Standing, she held out a hand for him to shake as soon as he, too, had stood. It wasn't until he had walked away and placed a hand on the doorknob that she spoke again, halting him. "Oh, Dean, I was wondering. Have you played any other game since Supernatural?"

"No." He shook his head as he looked over his shoulder at her. "No, I haven't played any game since." It was a complete lie, he told himself as he left the building. After all, he had only created a character, checked out the logout feature, and spoken to Claire the day before. No actual game play had occurred. And Dean wasn't ready to admit to anyone outside of Sam, Charlie, or Victor that he was making dives again. He was keeping the fact that while he may not know the how or why of the sleeping players, he may have figured out the where to himself. Confidentiality be damned. He sure as hell wasn't going to be telling Sandover's resident therapist in case the company he worked for was somehow involved in the two unanswered questions. His bosses didn't need to know about his recent dive, or any that he planned on making in the near future. That was his business alone.

Leaving Dr. Barnes office building, Dean headed straight for the hospital. Quickly he made his way through the familiar halls and right to Castiel's room with sure steps. He was counting on the fact that it was only a little after two int he afternoon, practically the middle of the business day, to help him get away with visiting Castiel undetected. After all, Roman was more than likely at work and Nurse Mosley was on duty and would surely not mention that Dean had been by. He wound the excuses tightly around him as he stepped into the quiet room and made his way to his usual chair.

"Hey, Cas." Dean leaned in, placing a kiss on the corner of the sleeping man's jaw where a beard was growing in. He had taken to shaving Castiel's facial hair periodically, but now that he was due to do so again he had forgone bringing the razor to keep Roman from suspecting he had ignored his demand to stay away. Dean wasn't going to draw unnecessary attention to himself over something as trivial as facial hair.

"So, I saw the therapist for the first time just now." Dean rubbed his face with a hand, jumping right in to the thick of the conversation as he would if Castiel were awake and listening. Reaching out, he took Castiel's hand in his own and continued. "Shit, I'm going to call her Pamela from now on. It sounds a little less pathetic." He imagined how Castiel would roll his eyes and tilt the corner of his mouth upward as he reassured him he wasn't pathetic for wanting to talk to someone. "So she asked a ton of questions and I'm sure she knows as much about me as any stalker would, so there's that. But I kinda didn't mention you, again." Dean frowned. "I like keeping you to myself, Cas. But I promise, as soon as you wake up I'll tell everyone, anyone who will listen, about the awesome guy I met playing that damn game." He let his eyes take in the sight of Castiel's closed ones underneath the screen of the visor. "And I fibbed a little, just a little white lie really. She asked me about gaming since Supernatural." He licked his lips and swallowed thickly. "I made the dive again yesterday, Cas. I know you would be pissed, more than likely, but I had to risk it. I think I might have found where you're trapped. And nothing is going to stop me from getting you out of that damn game. I'm going to bring you back Cas. I promise." He sat back in the chair, staring at the sleeping man, as his mind wondered. 

He should be dead. He had been dead. Lucifer had ran him through with a sword and Dean had somehow hung on long enough to take the other player down. He shouldn't have woken up after he watched the world he had known as Supernatural crumble before his eyes. He should have stayed there in whatever limbo he and Castiel had been thrust into. So why had he made it out the other side but Castiel remained trapped. For a time after he woke up, while he was still piecing things together in his mind, Dean had wondered if Castiel's being trapped had anything to do with the fact that he had died before Dean, had actually been dead when Dean had ended the game. But that didn't account for the other two hundred ninety-nine players, or the obvious way Castiel continued to live without the help of any machine outside the Nerve Gear. Why had Dean woken up and the man he had done it all for not?

Sitting in silence his thoughts eventually tapered off. He let himself sink into the feeling of Castiel's hand in his own, the soft sound of his breathing mingling with the low beep of the heart monitor. He didn't allow himself to consider the possibility that when Castiel did wake up, he may ask Dean to leave, may turn to Roman for comfort just as the dick seemed to think he would. The Angel had never mentioned Roman in their time together inside the game, but then Dean had never mentioned Lisa. 

Letting out a small groan, Dean forced the last of the thoughts from his mind as he stood and stretched out his stiff muscles. "I'll find you, Cas." Kissing the back of the other man's hand, Dean took one last look at Castiel to carry him over and left the hospital unseen.

By the time Dean pulled up in front of his house, it was already past three o'clock, and as he began the walk up to his front door his stomach let out a loud rumble and he was suddenly reminded of the fact that he had not eaten anything since the quick breakfast he had grabbed on his way out the door that morning. But as he passed the closed door of his home office, on his way to the kitchen, he felt anticipation and apprehension grip him. Suddenly he wasn't hungry any more. Forcing himself to take a deep breath and pas the closed room, he quickly made a simple sandwich that he ate on his way down the hall to his bedroom. Between bites he changed out of his work attire and put on a far more comfortable pair of jeans decorated in splashes of paint and multiple tears from his work on the house and an AC/DC short that had once been black but was now edging further into the grey spectrum. Too bad the clothes didn't translate, he would blend in well with the color scheme of Purgatory he thought with a dry laugh as he made his way back to the office at last. 

Without a witness there, Dean didn't stop the slight tremor in his hands as he slipped the head gear on and collapsed back onto the cot, the last of his nerve slipping away as he finally started the game once more.

**"Link start."**

No one was there to hear the crack in his voice as he made the dive alone for the first time since waking up from Supernatural. Just as the virtual world began building around him, pulling his mind into the programming, Dean realized he was truly alone. When he had started Supernatural, he had timed it with Sam so that they could find one another and play together on that first day. And every day after that he had other players surrounding him that were just as trapped as he was. In the end he had Castiel by his side at every move he made. As the trees came into focus around him and he was reminded once more of the glitch in his location data, Dean was made starkly aware of the fact that he was alone. 

Well, he was almost alone. The red gleam of eyes and the shadowy forms hiding behind trees and watching this new player appear in the middle of the forest, brought to his attention for the first time the other players in this new game. The other players who were all some race of monster or another. Players that knew PKing was the way to level up and advance themselves in the hopes of finding the portal in the game.

A growl sounded behind him and Dean felt a very real shiver in his virtual body.


	4. A New Companion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are back in the game!

Dean drew the short blade that his character was equipped with and knew the first thing he was doing when he reached a town was getting himself some better gear.

"Daddy." Claire's soft voice floated in the air just as she did. He turned his head enough to see her pixie form out of the corner of one eye while keeping most of his attention on the forms hovering among the trees.

"What is it?"

"There are other players nearby."

"Yeah, I got that figured out." He barely held back the urge to roll his eyes, needing to watch the creatures and trees around him.

"No, those are in-game monsters." Just as she had finished speaking one of the shadows broke away from a tree and charged towards Dean. As it hounded across the clearing in a direct line at the player, Dean took in the sight of it. It was tall, skinny, and practically naked, leaving all of its leathery skin exposed along thin, elongated limbs. As it got closer the creature opened its overlarge mouth and let out a shriek that shocked Dean back a step. That small backward motion turned out to be a blessing as one of those long arms struck out at him in a sweeping motion. its claw tipped fingers barely missed making contact with Dean. The momentum of the failed attack threw the creature past Dean, giving the man a chance to bring up his blade, spin around behind the creature, and bury that blade in the monster's skull. When Dean pulled the blade back out it left a sickly gray-green wound that glowed like a flame. Quickly the flame spread until it encompassed the creature's body before dissipating. A screen appeared before Dean announcing the experience points and money he had earned from the kill, along with identifying the monster as a Wendigo.

Dean turned a full circle to make sure nothing more was about to jump out at him, but it seemed he had only triggered the one attack. With a light sigh, Dean slipped his blade back in its sheath on his belt and turned back to Claire.

"You said there were players nearby? Maybe we can get some directions and information."

"This way!" Claire giggled and flew away, leaving Dean to run after her, dodging trees both standing and fallen. Finally the sounds of fighting grew louder and through the trees Dean could make out movement, quick and erratic. He knew a battle when he saw one.

"I'm sorry!" A high pitched voice rang out as Dean stepped into the clearing in time to see two flaming figures, one red and the other green, flare and taper off until only a small ball of colored fire sat on the forest floor.

"Idiot!" The hissed condemnation brought Dean's focus around to where a small figure was fighting off two much bigger forms. As the smaller player backed away the others extended their scaly hands, fire lancing outward.

"Sorry about this, kid, but we're on a mission. Just give us your money and items and we'll consider just letting you go." One of the dragons, Dean assumed by the fire, spoke up.

"Why are you being so nice, Kagamuni. Let's just kill him and get the items." The other said as they took another step forward.

Dean quickly stepped out from between the trees, slowly drawing his dagger, and crept closer. He saw the moment the kid noticed him, slightly frightened but mostly angry eyes grew wide. Dean held a finger on his free hand to his lips and shook his head slowly: _No, shhh, keep quiet._ The boy tightened his grip on his own sword and waited for the attack. 

"Come and try, jerks!" The kid yelled and lifted his weapon a little higher.

"Stupid move, kid." The first dragon laughed. Then they were both charging forward, still unaware of another player right behind them.

Dean caught the one on the left by the collar of his outfit, jerking the man to a stop so sudden it caused him to tumble backward to the ground, his legs actually kicking in a few aborted steps as his back hit the ground. As Dean leaned in to make the killing blow his eyes quickly scanned the guy's face with something between curiosity and revulsion. Up close he could see what the starting menu had hidden. Scales doted the man's face in random patches, and white eyes with small black pupils looked up at him. Trying to save himself, the Dragon brought up a glowing hand and Dean was slightly surprised to be able to see bones and veins under the skin. Before the player could aim that hand at Dean, he brought his blade down into the Dragon's chest. The effect was the same as it had been for the monster earlier, only red flames lit up the Dragon and Dean stepped away from the small, lingering red ball of fire.

Dean looked up in time to see the kid block the first attack from the other Dragon, pushing him back with his sword enough to give himself room to make the next move. The Dragon let out a small groan and Dean saw where the kid's sword had cut into the man. With a growl the Dragon sidestepped and brought up his empty hand which was now glowing. The flames shot out quickly and in a straight line that the kid barely dodged.

"Need some help, kid?" Dean called out, taking a step closer. 

"No!" The venom in that single, snapped word brought Dean up short. With renewed determination the smaller player moved quickly , stepping into the Dragon's space and swinging his blade up sharply. The howl the Dragon let out as his hand fell to the forest floor caused Dean to wince. In the next instant the kid had buried his sword in the other player's gut. Dean smirked at the small ball of fire now at the kid's feet.

"What about you? Want to have a go?" Dean frowned as the kid spoke before he noticed the player's words were directed at someone in the shadows. Another damn Dragon stepped forward. 

"No thanks. My Magic skill is going to reach nine hundred soon, so I'd rather not die just yet." His voice was calm, steady as he smirked and Dean watched him flex his fingers.

"At least you're honest." Dean mumbled.

"Fine. Get out of here." The kid sneered before he lifted his sword to point at the Dragon. "But next time I see you, you'll be going down."

"Then next time I'll be sure to bring more friends along." The Dragon sneered right back before turning and taking off at a run into the trees.

"So, what's up those flames?" Dean asked as he slipped his blade back into its place.

"Sh. They're Remain Lights. The players we killed can still hear you." The kid said as he too put up his sword. They waited another few seconds for the flames to disappear. "Ok, now we talk." He crossed his small arms over his small chest and turned his small frame to face Dean fully. "So what do you want?"

"Well, a thank you would be nice. I did just kind of save your a- butt."

"Thanks, but I could have handled it myself, newb."

"Jeeze, you're an ungrateful little punk." Dean frowned, but the sight of the kid rolling his eyes turned the expression into a smirk as Dean was reminded of Ben.

"Why don't you tell me what a Demon like you is doing around here." He took a few steps closer as he studied Dean.

"I'm sort of lost." Dean grudgingly admitted, frowning again when the confession elicited laughter from the other player.

"How the hell did you get that lost? Demon territory is way to the East." The kids was practically doubles over from his laughter, but he slowly calmed down. "Well, thanks man, for the help with those jerks. I'm Deson." He put emphasis on the long 'e' as he held out his hand to Dean.

"Winchester." Dean introduced himself and shook the kid's hand.

"Look, you got plans right now? 'Cause I can give you directions to at least neutral territory. To show my thanks for the _extra blade_."

"Yeah, I'd really appreciate that." Dean nodded.

"But Daddy, I can show you!" Before he could stop her, Claire had flown up out of the pocket she had hidden in during the fight.

"Daddy?" Deson asked hesitantly as he eyed the small fairy. "Wait, is that one of those private pixies?" He looked closely at the small girl now standing on Dean's shoulder, hands holding tight to his ear.

"Uh, yeah. Something like that." Dean shrugged, earning a squeak from the girl. "Anyway, Claire, we can ask the kid some questions about the game if he is willing to answer them as he shows us the way." He smiled at the soft, skeptical hum the AI made in his ear.

"Huh, yeah, I don't mind." The kid shrugged. "It might not look like it, but I know a lot about this game. And there's a neutral village to the North." He waved a hand in roughly the right direction. "I mean, it's a little out of the way, but we can make it there in good time."

"What about Sylvain?" Claire asked and Dean looked from her to Deson in confusion.

"Sylvain is Changeling territory." Deson said with a frown.

"So?" Dean was not getting the problem.

"You really don't know anything about this game, do you? You're not a Changeling. If you got to Sylvain you can't attack anyone there, but they can sure attack you."

"As long as I don't do anything to provoke them, no one will attack me, right?" Dean asked with a smile and small shrug.

"I guess, but-"

"And what is a Changeling anyway?" Dean turned in the direction Claire was now pointing and took a few steps before waiting for Deson to join him.

"Me. I'm a Changeling." Deson sighed and fell into step with the other player.

"You look like a kid." Dean noted and looked at him in time to see him wince. "Sorry."

"No, it's ok. I should be used to it." He heaved a sigh too big for his body. "I didn't pick the character." Dean opened his mouth to speak but the kid cut him off. "The system picks the Changeling automatically for anyone under seventeen. It's a safety measure to keep underage players out of certain, more violent areas of the game."

"Huh, that's unique." Dean mumbled. A small part of him wondered if something like that could have been used to stop kids from entering Supernatural.

"It's stupid is what it is." Deson huffed. "I mean, I can still kill and be killed, I just can't do some challenges which is all kinds of unfair." Dean wondered how old the kid was, whining like that. What would he have said about Supernatural where some challenges were geared toward specific races or even all three working together. Dean smiled sadly, without that little feature he may never have gotten around to talking with Castiel.

"So you can switch races when you turn seventeen?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, but that's the only switch allowed right now. There's rumor of a reincarnation feature in the next expansion pack, but it's not confirmed. So all I can do is wait for the date on my system profile to hit seventeen and make the best of what I've got right now." The kids shrugged.

"How long you got until that change?" Dean tried to sound casual, but hell, the kid was acting as his guide and Dean wanted to know that some third grader wasn't responsible for him.

"Few years." Deson mumbled but then he threw up a hand and turned to scowl at Dean. "But look, Winchester; I've been playing Purgatory since the start. I know how it works. You're not going to find many people who know this game as well as me. And even fewer are going to be willing to help you out."

Dean thought for a long moment, their feet still trampling underbrush as they made their way though the forest. Finally, he offered a reluctant nod. "Ok, yeah. It's not like I'm asking much from ya'."

"Exactly." Deson smiled, running a hand through his hair and picking up the pace. "So come on, let's get to Sylvain."

"So, tell me about the races." Dean figured it was as good a place as any to start his questions. And he did need to know who he might have to go up against on his quest for the Portal. "I think I remember vampires and werewolves from the stat-up menu. And I'm a Demon and you're a Changeling. And those were, what, Dragons, you were fighting?"

"Yup. That's five of the races right there. Let's see, the only ones you left out were..." The kid thought for a long moment before snapping his fingers. "Djinn, Kitsune, Shapeshifters, and Witches."

"Wow." Dean hummed. After only the three very simple races from Supernatural, these seemed almost overwhelming. "And does everyone have special abilities like the fire thing those Dragons did?"

"Yup. Us Changelings, we can literally such the life right out of other players. You just have to get close for the skills to work."

"What about Demons?"

"Telekinesis." Deson said matter of factly. "Like it starts out with simple things, but I've heard of Demons with higher levels being able to kill another player from a short distance. Like snapping their neck with a wave of their hand." There was a bit of awe in his voice before he shrugged. "Of course, all the skills depend on you being close to the other player enough to target them accurately."

"Well, that's pretty cool." Dean nodded, thinking of how he could use the skill the next time he was in battle. After all, the more he used it, the higher his skill level.

"Yeah, I've thought about going Demon when I get to change. I mean, Dragon was my first choice because, well, fire throwing!" Deson waved his hands in the air and Dean laughed. "But they are a bunch of exclusive asshats!" Dean was shocked by the kid's language, but refrained from reprimanding him. "And Djinn can actually project someone's worst fear, which is cool to see but terrifying to be on the receiving end. And the Djinn tend to be pretty standoffish." He shrugged again. "So I don't know, I'm still thinking about it. And that's if I haven't beat the game before then and get to be an Angel instead."

"An Angel?" Dean's attention was laser focused on the word.

"Yeah, there's a rumor that whichever race finds the Final Portal first and gets through it will be reborn as a special race of Angels. They'll be able to fly, and heal, and smite other players and in-game monsters with just the touch of their hand."

"Wow, that sounds intense." Dean murmured as he ran a hand through his hair. It also sounded way more powerful than the Angels in Supernatural.

"Yeah, that's why everyone is trying so hard to find the portal."

"So how does a player go about finding the portal?"

"Well, that's the tricky part. It moves every so often. Some people have complained that it always seems to relocate just as players are about to reach it." Dean shook his head. "But the GMs have said it is completely random and not at all related to player proximity."

"That would be a pretty dick move. Making the main game objective unobtainable."

"Yeah, but people are taking their word on it being just difficult for now, and continuing to play."

"And you're one of them?"

"Well, yeah. As much as it would rock being an Angel, I'm just having fun with the basic play of the game. I've been doing quests and exploring, and I'm part of a small party that's been geared toward just leveling up for now."

"Ok, so maybe everyone's missed that one key quest, to reach the portal, you know. Or what if it's designed so that one race can't reach it alone."

"Good instincts." Deson laughed. "But right now everyone thinks it's a missing quest, so they are out there looking for it. But if we have to work together to get to it, it'll never happen."

"Why not?" Dean thought about the way Angels, Demons, and Hunters had fought on the front lines in Supernatural. How all three races had been present on that final day. But then things had been more serious in that game, a lot more dire.

"Because it doesn't make sense. Why would any one race help another when they wouldn't get the reward. Could you imagine anyone being cool with that arrangement?"

"Well, yeah, when you put it that way, I get it." Dean frowned.

"But some people are determined. They think even if it takes years-"

"But I can't wait around that long!" Dean nearly yelled, startling both Claire and Deson as he slapped his open palm on a tree he had been too close to.

"Oh." Deson stared at him.

"Daddy?" Claire's voice was clear in the sudden silence.

"Sorry." Dean sighed, looking down at his unmoving feet. "It's just that I have to make it through that portal as soon as I can."

"Ok, what's the rush?" Deson crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm sort of looking for someone." Dean cleared his throat. "Someone I think might be waiting for me there." They were quiet for a long moment until the sound of Deson shuffling his feet broke it.

"You know, they say that the land beyond the portal is called Heaven." He wiggled his shoulders as if trying to weigh the notion.

"Well then, I guess it' a good thing I'm looking for an Angel." Dean smirked and without another word he began walking once more. Deson could do nothing but follow.

It wasn't long before Dean could make out a town among the trees, and only a few more minutes before the players were emerging from the forest and suddenly walking on paved paths.

"Well, Deson, all the info you've given me is really going to help." Dean said as they drew to a stop on the bustling street. As he looked around at all the shops, buildings, and stalls that reminded him so much of the Town of Beginnings in Supernatural, it suddenly came to his attention that almost everyone around was a Changeling. Meaning it looked like Dean had just walked into a town full of kids.

"Wait, are you heading for the portal already?" Deson put a hand on Dean's elbow to pull his attention back.

"Yeah, I've gotta see for myself what is waiting."

"Alone? That's crazy! You have no idea where it is. And you'll be fighting a bunch of monsters. I mean I know you can handle yourself, or at least I'm pretty sure you can after what I saw with the Dragons, but..." Dean had pulled away from the other player, making his way further into the town. He had reached the mouth of the little alley they had entered the ton by, body only half turned to face Deson as he waited for a chance to say a farewell. "Hey!" The shout pulled Dean up short. "If you want, I can travel with you."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know most of this world like the back of my hand, and I can think of the best places for the portal to be."

Dean thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Thanks, but e just met, kid. I can't ask you to take on a challenge like this for a stranger, You don't need to be caught up in this."

"Call me kid again and you'll loose time waiting to respawn before you can start." Dean let out a mild chuckle at the kid's bold words. "And you know where you're going from here? This town in _Changeling_ territory?" Dean started to speak but Deson kept going. "And what are you going to do about the portal's guardians? Know how to beat them?"

"I'll figure something out." Dean frowned, starting to feel his patience slip.

"Too late! By the time you figure it out on your own, the portal will have moved! I can help!"

Dean let out a long sigh before conceding with a roll of his shoulders. "Ok. Fine. Yeah."

"Good." Deson nodded firmly. "Wanna meet back up tomorrow? Three pm system time?"

"Ok. Yeah."

"Good. I've got to log out now. But when you're ready, go get a room at that inn right there and log out." Deson wasn't letting the other guy get a word in edgewise as he pointed at the building across the street from them before using the same hand to call up his menu.

"Hey, wait." Dean threw out a hand to get the kid's attention with his words. The smaller player stopped, a prompt asking if he was sure he wanted to log out now in front of him, and looked up at Dean. "Thanks, Deson."

He froze for a moment before offering a bright smile and quick nod. "No problem, man," Before he had even finished speaking his finger hit the 'confirm' button and he was gone, leaving the new player, now a possible friend, to finish the day off by himself.

 

Slowly Ben blinked, clearing the fog the game always left behind as his brain re-entered reality. His focus zeroed in on a large poster on the ceiling above his bed. A gray forest under a gray-blue sky, a child dressed in green bringing in a vibrant splash of color as he moved through the trees. Ben had the poster made from a picture a fellow player took in the game of Deson on a quest. It was the first thing he saw when he logged out, a sort of shift to the real world. It also gave him a chance to try to influence his dreams, another place he could be brave Deson, small but fierce.

Ben sighed as he sat up and pulled the Amu-sphere helmet from his head and wedged it between his mattress and the wall where his mother wouldn't see it. Of course the poster was also on the ceiling to stay out of sight; no one looked up when they entered a room. If his mother knew that Ben had saved every bit of allowance those two years all those players were trapped in Supernatural just to go out and buy a newly released Amu-sphere, and gotten a copy of Purgatory from a friend for his birthday, she would flip. Lisa Braeden was not a fan of Virtual Reality.

Ben stood, rubbing his eyes as if fresh from sleep before stretching those hands high above his head. He glanced at the clock on his desk and let out a heavy sigh as he sank back into his regular height. Mom would be home in ten minutes. Quickly he made his way into the kitchen for a simple snack, then back to his room to get started on homework.

"Ben?" Lisa poked her head in his room in passing, giving her son a smile before ducking back out again. She had done the parental check to see he was home and now she had her own stuff to do.

"Hey, Mom!" Ben chased after her. "Can I go see Dean?" He had followed her to her own room where she set her purse on her bed and pulled off her coat.

"Not tonight Ben. It's a school night and you have homework." Lisa sighed and took down her hair.

"But we used to go over all the time on school nights." He complained.

"That was when you had less homework. And we were having dinner there." She mumbled the last part as she headed for her closet. Her voice was louder as she looked for more comfortable clothes to change into. "I'm not going to fight traffic to drive you over there to see him for a half hour that I have to find something else to do during just to turn around, come home, and have to cook." She poked her head out enough to see him and frown tiredly. "I'm exhausted, Ben."

"So, it's only fair to make a trip like that if you're dating the guy, can get something out of it, too." Ben knew he had gone too far as soon as his mother stepped out of the closet, anger on her face.

"Go to your room now." The finger she pointed at the door shook. "And you can forget about going anywhere for the rest of the week, especially Dean's."

He opened his mouth to argue. He had plans to go to Jake's tomorrow so he could play longer and help the new guy, Winchester. But Ben knew any argument he made would only make things worse. Instead, he hung his head and left the room. He would just have to help Winchester as much as he could as quickly as he could every day. For now, he had homework to finish.


	5. Caged Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is shorter than the others, but it's early so... just go with it. Hope you like it!

The world beyond the portal was in complete juxtaposition with the world known as Purgatory. The flat, nearly colorless forest that looked dead even as there bloomed obvious life among the branches stood in stark contrast to the sheer beauty of the world beyond the portal that even without the glowing blue edges of the opening, there never could be any doubt as to what it was when it was seen.

The Final Portal opened out into the flowering branches of a massive tree that seemed to have no limits. The limbs were vast and numerous, a whole world contained within their leaves. Bright, bold color pixelated in vibrant displays of coding meant to awe the player. And it would have worked, humbling any player able to cross the threshold of the portal with a beauty scarcely seen in the real world, if any player was able to make it that far. Instead the grandeur of this world beyond the portal, this Heaven, was wasted on its occupants. Or its one permanent occupant. Castiel couldn't be sure that there was anyone else in this virtual reality that had become his literal prison.

Sitting stiffly on one corner of a chaise lounge, he stared out through the bars of this cage he had been confined to. The insistent chirping of his only companions brought his eyes downward to see the two budgies perched on the raised back of the chaise. He took in the beautiful blue of one, the color so close to what his Heavenly Host uniform once had been, the white on the bird's face and wings simply completed the impression. The second bird hopped a little to the side trying to get closer to its mate. This one was completely black, a color so unnatural for the breed that Castiel suspected it had only been chosen to torture him.

He raised a hand slowly, perhaps thinking to pet the only visual reminder of Dean he had int his place, but both birds were frightened by the movement and flew away between the bars of the cage. Castiel's shoulders sagged and he curled in on himself with a choked off sob. His captivity was getting to him a little more every day. How long had he been here? How much longer would it be still before he was free? How would that come about exactly, because he knew he wouldn't be released by his captor, that was for sure. Trying to take in a deep breath he once more imagined how he would escape, save himself. After all, he had survived almost two years in Supernatural, surely he could figure this out.

"Right now you're face is more handsome that ever, Cassie." The voice behind him surprised Castiel, his spine going rigid with a strong lightening like mix of fear and anger. "The way you look like you're about to cry." The words were just as revolting as the man speaking them and they made Castiel lift his chin in defiance. "I wish I could preserve it and hang it up on a wall." Finally Castiel turned stoically to look at the man standing on the other side of the door of his prison. He seemed a little taller than Castiel remembered him in real life, and a lot more perfectly put together, coding coming together to make the man everything he thought he was: poised, perfect, commanding. 

"What are you waiting for? Permission?" Castiel said flatly.

The door raised upwards, bars pulling from their slots in the cage's marble floor. As soon as the man had entered, the bars began sliding down until the opening was no more. As he got closer to Castiel, the prisoner dropped his eyes, unable to look too long on the man he had come to hate so passionately. "You can do whatever you want, I have no say in the matter. You're the System Admin after all."

"Such cold words from such a pretty mouth." He stopped right in front of Castiel, placing a hand on the back of the chaise and leaning in close. "Now, have I ever laid a hand on you when you didn't want me to, Cassie?"

Castiel turned a sneer on the man, ignoring how close their faces now were. "Don't call me that. My name is Castiel. Richard."

"You're spoiling the fun." Richard Roman took a few steps back, his smile still firmly in place. "Think of all this as role playing, a way to rekindle the romance between us, Cassie."

"There is no more us, Richard."

"Now, now, Cassie. Things ended so suddenly, and you were gone in Supernatural before we could work things out."

"You had an affair, Richard, there was nothing to work out." Castiel's voice began to rise and he took a breath to try and calm himself, loosing his temper would not do him any good here.

"It could hardly be considered an affair, Cassie. More of a simply fling." Roman waved his hand about in the air above his head. "And nothing enough to come between us."

"There is no us." Castiel said between clenched teeth, stressing each word.

Roman dropped his hands and smile, leveling Castiel with a cold stare.

"So stubborn, Castiel, I'll give you that." He stepped back into the other man's space, using a table just to the side of the chaise as a seat so that he could lean in toward Castiel once more. "But you know, for a while now I've been thinking." He drew out the words. "Romance is nice and all, but it might be more fun..." a hand came up and grabbed Castiel's chin, forcing him to look up at Richard Roman as the man continued talking low and calm. "If I just took you by force." He ran a thumb over Castiel's lips, seemingly entranced as a leer spread over his face. Slowly he moved his hand along the other man's jaw, down the line of his neck, across his collar bone. The light touch made Castiel shiver in disgust, a sign Roman no doubt misinterpreted. Castiel wished virtual reality was a little less real.

He swallowed thickly as Roman's hand continued to move downward, grazing the glimpse of skin until he reached the thin tie of the cloth vest he wore. Letting the tie slip through he fingers until he reached the end of it and held on tight to tug on it slowly. Castiel wore very little, only thin strips of cloth that covered him much like a vest and kilt. It was a ridiculous outfit, but he had come to appreciate that it covered him enough to feel concealed if not fully clothed. And now Roman was threatening to take away part of it.

"Stop it." Castiel couldn't stop the tremor in his voice. 

Roman dropped the tie.

"Of course, my dear. It was just a joke." He shifted further back on the table, a grin back in place. "I'd never really force myself on you." He clasped his hands together in his lap. "I don't have to." Hands still joined he gave a small shrug and stood. "You'll start wanting me soon enough, I promise." He turned only enough to look down on Castiel for a moment before looking out the bars of the cage.

"You're insane." Castiel said firmly but quietly. Roman laughed lightly.

"You won't be talking like that for much longer." There was a long pause, but Castiel knew the man would explain himself further. Richard Roman had a deep seated need to hear himself talk and prove himself more clever than anyone else. "Right now, in this world, tens of thousands of players are enjoying this game. But none of them have a clue about the full potential of the Full Dive system." Castiel furrowed his brow in confusion as he watched the other man's back. "Did you know that by expanding the brain's control regions, one could influence a person's thoughts, emotions, and memories?" Castiel's eyes grew wide and he let out a gasp.

"You can't! Technology like that is illegal!"

"Oh, but you're wrong." Roman brushed him off. "In fact, several countries are researching it as we speak. The only thing standing in the way is finding people to experiment on." Roman was growing more excited the longer he spoke. "But one day I was watching the news and there they were." He threw his arms out to the sides and nearly shouted. "Ten thousand ideal guinea pigs!" Roman calmed mostly, lowering his arms as he continued. "Pellegrino was a genius, but he was also a fool. All he wanted to use his technology for was his game. He couldn't see the potential. Roman turned to look at Castiel with that evil grin he had seen so much of lately. "But I did."

"It wasn't too difficult to adjust the routing. The minute Supernatural's players were logged out I just grabbed a few from the flow. And just like that I had three hundred of my very own test subjects. My research had taken great strides the last two months. I've been developing a technology that seeds memories with objects and uses them to control emotion. My work is almost finished now."

Castiel felt nauseous. He clenched his hands into fists in his lap and strained to keep himself still. Attacking the madman now would do nothing to help him get free. "You're crazy. The government would never allow that kind of research." Castiel knew he was reaching, but his position left him with less than no power to do anything.

"Maybe that's true, if they knew about it." Roman circled around and stepped in close to Castiel's back. He laid a hand on the sitting man's shoulder and moved it up until it was wrapped around Castiel's throat, his thumb forcing Castiel to lift his chin an inch. "See, it's all being done in secret. Just a small team and myself inside a company used to hiding things." He leaned in to whisper in his captive's ear. "I am very good at getting away with things, as you well know."

Castiel's breathing grew shallow and he wondered how much of that was the pressure Roman had on his windpipe and how much was the panic and disgust that were slowly taking over.

"And soon it won't matter any more anyway because that small company will no longer belong to me. I'm selling all the responsibility for someone else to deal with." Roman let go so suddenly Castiel sagged forward a little.

"Who?" It was little more than a croak.

"A large corporation looking to expand their influence in the the realm of virtual reality and gaming. I'm not sure you've heard of them." Roman moved to stand in front of Castiel as he spoke, watching the other closely. "Sandover." Castiel fought to keep his featured calm, grasping for some reply that would hide his real thoughts on the company.

"That won't happen. I'll see to that." He stood as he spoke, glad to hear his voice was back to normal. "As soon as I get back to the real world the first thing I'll do is report you to the authorities. I'm sure I can help immensely in tying you to the company. I did learn quite a lot in our time together."

"Oh that won't be happening." Roman remained calm, smile still firmly in place. "You're in the same boat as the other players. Haven't you figured it out? If I wanted I could alter your memories."

Castiel felt as if the floor had fallen out from under his feet, his whole world moving just outside of his reach as he struggled to grasp some ray of hope. This whole bird in a cage wasn't about Roman having Castiel to himself, in his grasp, at his mercy, just satisfying his need for control. He wanted _complete control_. And he was willing to alter Castiel's mind to get it. He was messing with two hundred ninety-nine innocent minds just to get this one that had been pulled out of his reach.

Richard Roman really had gone insane.

A small bubble with a communication icon appeared in front of Roman. Dropping his smile in favor of a scowl, Roman clicked on the icon. "I'm on my way. Wait for my orders." Roman let out a small sigh and turned back to Castiel. "Don't worry. The last thing I'd ever want is to turn you into a porcelain doll." Reaching out, Roman ran a hand through Castiel's dark hair. Castiel kept completely still, knowing from experience that if he moved away now Roman would fist his hair and pull to keep him in place. "But the next time we meet, I hope you'll be..." Roman trailed off as he leaned in and buried his nose in Castiel's hair. Castiel heard the long inhale and fought down the urge to gag. On the tail end of the exhale Roman seemed to remember his thought which he now whispered. "Just a bit more submissive. Cassie."

With that Richard Roman turned and walked to the door in the cage. He lifted a hand and began keying in the authorization code to open the door. Castiel stared hard as he tried to make out the numbers, but the programming wasn't in his favor. Either his skill level was too low, in which case he had no hope of seeing the keys since he had no way of improving the skill. Or Roman had put in place a bit of code to distort the key, in which case he still had no hope. Roman would never let him get close enough that he could make out the numbers that would release him.

A chime sounded through the room and Castiel watched as the gate slid open to allow Roman to leave. Stepping through, he turned his head just enough to catch any movement while still seeming unafraid of the possibility of it by turning his back on his prisoner. As the gate slid back into place Roman's parting words could be heard over the sound of the moving bars.

"Farewell my love."

As soon as Roman was out of sight Castiel let himself crumble to the floor, his knees hitting the marble with a sharp pain he could blame for the slow tears now escaping. Most of his hope had been sapped from him with this one visit. But somewhere deep inside one word kept a small flame alive. Sandover. Sandover meant Dean Smith. How often had they spoken of Dean's position in the company being responsible for Dean playing Supernatural? He oversaw their gaming ventures. He would see Purgatory. He had to figure it out. He just had to.

"Dean, please save me." Castiel pleaded softly in his lonely cage, willing the words to reach the man he loved.


	6. Making Enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a day late guys, but here it is. Bonus points if you know the numbers.

"Take a breath. Calm down." Dean drew out the words as the Vampire finally stopped snapping his sharpened teeth at Dean's face. He had the other man pinned against one of the gray trees in the endless forest, his small knife tucked just right under the Vampire's jaw. Dean also took a few breaths, trying to calm his own system from the excitement of chasing the guy through the forest. "I just want some info." The Vampire finally relaxed just the slightest bit, probably trying to take away a little of the weapon's pressure. "Where's the portal?"

The Vampire chuckled lowly. "Like Hell would I tell a damn Demon." He leaned his head forward to hiss the words in Dean's face, but remained mindful of the blade at his throat.

"Where's the portal?" Dean asked again, his anger ticking up a notch as he pushed the Vampire back into the tree.

"I don't know." The Vampire tried for complete seriousness. Dean watched the player closely, looking for some sign of how honest he was being. Finally he gave a single, small nod before smirking. Dean pulled the knife back, feeling the Vampire relax more, but then with a quick movement he jammed the blade into the Vampire's forearm, effectively pinning him to the tree. The player's rage filled growls and pained howls filled the forest up to the point Dean drew his sword and cut the Vampire's head off. Purple flames extended from both wounds until the consumed the player and he disappeared, leaving behind the Remain Light. 

Dean had just bent to retrieve his knife and watch the small ball of flame dissipate when Deson finally came crashing through the trees. The Changeling bent with his hands on his knees, panting in an effort to catch his breath. Dean couldn't help the huffed chuckle he let out at the kid's theatrics.

"Dammit. Are you going to kill everyone who can't answer your questions?" Deson asked when he finally straightened himself up.

"I may." Dean shot back.

Deson shook his head. "You're going to make a lot of enemies is all. It'll make getting info a lot harder if everyone hates you and is gunning to take you down."

"I told you that you didn't have to help me, kid. Back out now if you think I'm being reckless." Dean rolled his shoulders and made to walk away, but Deson grabbed his arm.

"Hey, Winchester, what's up man?" The boy actually sounded concerned and it made Dean feel like more of an ass for taking his frustration out on him.

They were only three days into the search for the Final Portal and it felt like they were getting nowhere. Dean had spent some time asking around Sylvain for info between upgrading his gear that first day after Deson had logged out. But after not getting much, Dean had logged out and emailed Charlie his notes. Tuesday the kid led the way to a neutral town where they started the process all over again. Dean assured the boy he understood when Deson apologetically stated he had to sign out after only an hour and half. And he did get it, the kid had a limit on game time, and he had been helpful while he was able to play. But maybe that had added a little to the strain of not really getting anywhere. Because now it was Thursday and they were trudging somewhere in the dense forest between two prominent settlements, one Vampire and one Dragon, and Dean was high strung. 

Charlie had spouted out some string of babble about algorithms and random output margins? Maybe? Anyway, the gist had been a circled area of a printed map she had placed on his desk at Sandover with the very clear "Look here." Passing that information on to Deson and convincing the kid to traipse through what was effectively enemy territory had eaten into their time for the day. Luckily they were relatively close to the suggested are. It didn't take them long to find players to question. But each one they found had been just slightly less helpful that the one before. Dean had just killed the eighth player they had asked.

"Look, why don't we take a break." Deson suggested.

"Son of a bitch." Dean hissed. They had run out of time for the day.

"Hey, wait, calm down a damn minute." Dean was beginning to think that was the kid's favorite curse word. "I don't have to log out for the day. I've got plenty of time. I was just thinking that we could take a breather. And I could use a snack." Deson shrugged and let go of the other man. "Why don't we rotate out?"

"Rotate?" Dean was a bit calmer.

"Yeah. We take turns logging out and resting while the other keeps watch. Remember, you can't fully log out when you're in the fields. SO one of us logs out while the other stays behind to guard their avatar."

"Ok." Dean nodded. If he was honest, he'd have to admit that the two years spent in Supernatural, being completely unable to log out in any way besides permanently via death, had really messed with his concept of the feature. Now, he was stuck having to relearn some aspects of it. He figured he could compare it to sleeping in Supernatural. If you couldn't do it without risking someone killing you while you were vulnerable in one game, it probably goes for the other game as well. "Sounds like a plan. Why don't you go ahead first."

"Ok. Don't mind if I do. See you in about twenty minutes." Deson called up his menu, tapping through the options, but he held off on the final confirmation. "Remember, stick my me. And try not to get into too much trouble."

Dean smirked. "No promises on the trouble. But I won't let anything happen to you."

Deson rolled his eyes and logged out.

Ben blinked rapidly, clearing the game from his head. After lifting the gear from his head, he tossed it on his bed and stood to stretch. No need to hide it since he would be using it again shortly. He had plenty of time to play today since his mom had a date. She had told Ben about it just before walking out the door that morning along with instructions to get his homework done and no going to a friend's house or inviting anyone over. Ben had waited until she was gone to fist bump the air in excitement. He could play for any length of time he wanted. Lisa Braeden never came home early from a date.

As he made his way to the kitchen to search our a snack, Ben checked his phone. Quickly he sent out a text to his mother to assure her his homework was done and everything was fine. He was headed back to his room as he munched on a sandwich when he thought of Dean.

**Ben:** Hey can you ask mom if I can see you again on Saturday or Sunday? She shoots me down when I ask.

**Ben:** Please? =P

Ben frowned down at his phone. He wanted to wait for a response in case he had to persuade Dean to let him come over, although he doubted that would be the case. But he needed to get back to the game so Winchester could take a turn at logging out. Biting his lip Ben decided to use the bathroom to waste a little more time. But he returned to his room and there was still no answer. Frowning he closed his bedroom door and put his phone on his desk before laying back down in bed and slipping the Amu-sphere back on.

"Hey, I'm back." Deson opened his eyes and looked over at Winchester who was laying back on the ground, arms tucked behind his head. "See any monsters?"

"Nope." Winchester shook his head. "All quiet here."

"Good."

"Ok, kid. I'll only be a few minutes."

"Yeah, yeah, get out of here." He waved the other player off. Winchester chuckled and logged out. Ben took in their surroundings, using his skills to make sure they were still alone. He was just turning back to look at Winchester's avatar when he noticed the guy's pocket moving and suddenly the little private pixie of his pushed her way out.

"No way! You can move when your master's logged out!" Ben moved forward on his knees to get a better look at the tiny girl walking on Winchester's chest.

"Well of course I can move." She put her hands on her hips defiantly. "I'm my own person after all. And for your information, he's not my master, he's my Daddy."

Ben frowned and sat back again. "Yeah, about that. I wanted to ask before. Why do you call him your Daddy? Did he, um, you know, uh, set you that way or something?" Winchester didn't _seem_ like a pervert, but in-game you couldn't always be sure.

"He didn't do anything to my settings." She dropped her hands and sat down, right over Winchester's heart. "He saved me. He told me I was his daughter. That makes him my Daddy. Do you see how that works?"

"Yeah... I guess." Ben was still confused but he didn't feel like talking it out with the little program. He really hoped it was something as simple and innocent as the pixie reminding the player of his real life daughter. "Ok."

"What's ok? What's going on?" Winchester asked, gingerly scooping up his pixie and sitting up.

"Welcome back, Daddy. Deson was just asking me why I call you my Daddy." Claire stated. Ben opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to add.

"Oh." Winchester took a deep breath. "That's kind of a complicated story."

"Yeah, I get it." Ben nodded quickly. "Hey, that was a pretty quick trip. You get everything done that you needed to?"

"Yeah. Leftovers. And just a few emails and text messages I had to check."

"Cool. Then let's get going." Ben stood and, out of habit, dusted off his pants. Winchester nodded and stood as well, placing his pixie carefully on his shoulder.

The older player had been leading the way for the most part since he had some mysterious gaming source who had claimed to have a hint of where they should search for the portal. Ben had been stepping in to keep them out of areas too densely populated by Dragons and Vampires. After all, if the portal was in those areas word would have gotten out. Now, however, Winchester took only a single step before he hesitated.

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know." The Demon pursed his lips. "It sort of felt like someone was watching us." He looked down at his shoulder. "Hey, Claire, are there any players nearby?"

"No, I'm not sensing any other players in our immediate vicinity."

"Well, it's possible someone put a tracer on us." Ben pointed out.

"What the hell's a tracer?" Sometimes the older player's lack of knowledge of the game caught Ben off guard.

"Tracking magic. It looks like a small animal or even an insect. It tells the caster a target's position."

"Can you dispel it?" Winchester began looking closer at the trees around them.

"Sure, if you can find it. But the thing is, if the caster's magic skill is high enough the tracer can track you from far away. In this dense area of forest, it would take forever to find it."

"Great." Winchester grumbled. "Maybe it's just my imagination." Ben could tell the man wasn't holding his breath for that possibility. "Oh well, come one, let's go."

"Ok." Ben quickly agreed. They had a lot of area left to search and plenty of players to get distracted with.

As they took off in the direction they had originally been headed before Winchester's Vampire chase, neither noticed the small lizard moving along a small branch to follow their progress. Deeper in the woods a red robed figure touched a gem and watched the two players through the eyes of the creature. As unlikely a pair as the Changeling and the Demon were they were easy to find, much to the pleasure of their growing list of enemies. With a nudge of magic the lizard was prompted forward. They needed to keep an eye on those two. Wait for an opportunity to strike. If Purgatory taught the players anything, it was patience.

~*~

Castiel tried to remain still as the finger poking at his arm turned into a hand gliding along his shoulder. It took everything he had not to jerk away or fold in on himself, knowing either movement could provoke the man now reaching over his shoulder to rub at his right pectoral, fingers just barely missing his nipple through the thin fabric. Every inch of Castiel's skin was crawling by the time Richard grew bored and leaned back onto his elbows with an exasperated sigh. They were on the large bed in Castiel's cage where the captive man had scrambled to a sitting position when his jailer had woken him upon entering the cage. Richard Roman had not hesitated in the slightest before sitting on the bed as well and trying to coax some sort of reaction out of Castiel, preferably a positive one. Instead, he was given the cold shoulder.

"Unbelievable." Roman mumbled before tucking his hands behind his head and laying back completely. "You can be so stubborn, Cassie. Seriously, no matter what I do I can't hurt you. It's not like that body is real. Why can't you just loosen up and enjoy yourself a little. Just like you used to before that damn game."

Castiel didn't bother pointing out that even while they had been together, it had been some time since he had actually enjoyed himself with Richard. In fact, it was only the other man's charismatic attitude and controlling nature that had kept Castiel in the relationship as long as he had. "I don't expect you to understand, but it doesn't matter if my body is real or virtual, I don't want you touching me in any way."

"What, are you afraid I'll corrupt you in some way? Honestly, Cassie, you definitely need to take things a less seriously while you're here."

"I'm not planning on staying in this cage forever." Castiel retorted defiantly. "You'll see. He'll come and save me." He was talking more to himself, but Richard heard the words clearly.

"Really? Who will? That hero boyfriend of yours? Dean was it?" Roman was watching closely as he spoke, not missing any of Castiel's shock as he turned wide eyes on the other man. "Please, Cassie, give me some credit. Did you think I would begin business with another company without knowing everything about them and their employees? Especially in regards to those that played the game Supernatural? Of course I would know the company actually had in their employ the man that beat the game." Roman swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat with his back to Castiel as he continued to speak. "I have to say, he wasn't what I was expecting. Dean Smith. He seems much smaller than his reputation would claim." Roman turned enough to see Castiel's confusion a he pushed off the bed. "Yes, I met him the other day, in the real world. I couldn't believe that frail looking man was the one who beat Pellegrino's creation. It took me a minute to collect myself." He waved a hand dismissively in the air before turning a smirk on Castiel. "By the way, where do you think I met him? In your hospital room. And you should have seen the shock on his face when I introduced myself as your long-time, loving boyfriend. It was like all the blood drained out of him. I could barely keep myself from laughing." Roman indulged in that laughter now, his shoulders shaking with the force of his cruel mirth. "And do you know he's in therapy? Made to go because his bosses don't believe they can handle the effect of the playing that game. I'll bet you anything that idiot won't have the guts to put on the Nerve Gear ever again." He slapped his hands on the table top he was now leaning over for emphasis.

Castiel finally turned away, so sure to his core that Roman was wrong. Dean would never be afraid, he would never back down, and he would never leave Castiel. Just knowing he was alive was enough to assure Castiel that Dean would find him, find a way to get to him, find a way to save him.

"But you know, none of that really matters any more. You're in here after all, mind safely tucked away out of his reach. And so is your real body since I've told him to stay away from what is mine." Roman straightened up. "Maybe therapy will do him good, convince him to forget about you. It's for the best that way."

Finally Roman began making his way to the door of the cage. "Well, Cassie, I really must be going. I hope you don't miss me too much." At the door to the cage Roman stopped and turned to see Castiel. The bed was a large half circle that curved with the outer wall of the cage. And it sat close to the door. Roman made sure Castiel still had his back to the room, and his focus seemed to be on his hands. He took a moment longer to take int he defeated look on the other man's face reflected in the mirror running the length of the bed's curved side. The pathetic way Castiel's shoulders sagged put a smile on Roman's lips as he turned to key in the access code on the door. 

Castiel's back and shoulders began to ache the longer he sat hunched into himself, but he kept the position with determination. His fingers sat interlocked so tightly in his lap they were beginning to tingle, but he couldn't spare them any of his attention. Instead his eyes remained intently focused on the mirror in front of him as he looked up through his lashes, specifically on the reflection of the keypad Richard Roman was pressing buttons on. The man was either incredibly stupid or overconfident, both dangerous traits that resulted in him not blocking Castiel's ability to see the code. He had simply needed to get close enough.

As soon as Roman had touched the last number and the first clank of the bars beginning their upward retraction sounded, Castiel dropped his eyes back down to his now white knuckles. If Roman turned back at all as he left and the cage closed once more, Castiel never saw it. Instead he waited long moments in silence simply trying to calm himself. When he was finally steady he let himself whisper his salvation into the cage. 

"Eight. One. Six. Four. One. Two. Zero. Five."


	7. Unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this is a week late, but it was a bit harder to write since I had a few things I wanted in it. But hey, it is back to my usual length! And I am already half through the next chapter that will be up tomorrow for sure!
> 
> I hope you are ready for this! We are almost at the end!

"We've wasted hours looking through the territory you pointed out." Dean grumbled as he rubbed at his forehead. It was only ten in the morning and already he could feel the beginnings of a headache. "Not only have we found nothing, but it seems like no one in the area has seen anything either." He let out a sigh, dropping his hand to the desk in front of him as he looked up at the redhead bent over the map on his desk. Charlie had come in to check on his progress in person and Dean had grabbed up a highlighter to show roughly where he and Deson had looked.

"The coding is there, I'm telling you. But the nature of the quest hides the exact location." she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and straightened up.

"Have you figured out what the special quest is? My guide says no one has figured out what it is yet, but they think it somehow unlocks a way to find and get to the portal."

"No. As far as I can tell there's nothing to help get to or through the portal." Charlie shook her head.

"Dammit." Dean mumbled, letting hi head fall into his hands. At the sound of a knock on his closed office door, his head shot back up so fast he felt a twinge of pain in his neck. Quickly he opened the top drawer of his desk as Charlie pushed the map toward it. He called out to the visitor just as Charlie took a step closer. As the office door opened Charlie pointed at his computer.

"And I'm telling you, it's got the best back up feature. It's why we use it over at R-R-E." She let her hand fall as they both turned to look at the man that had just stepped into the office. 

"Mr. Adler." Dean stood up at the sight of his boss. "Oh, um, thank you Ms. Bradbury for your help."

"Not a problem." Charlie gave a little nod and made her way back around the desk. With a halfhearted wave she skirted around Adler and out of the office, closing the door firmly behind her.

"Mr. Adler, what can I do for you, sir?" Dean asked as he slipped a hand into his pocket to grip his already vibrating cell phone. No doubt it was Charlie texting to ask what this was about. He would tell her as soon as he knew.

"How are you doing Dean?" Adler actually looked concerned as he stared intently at his employee.

"Great, sir." Dean tried to make his smile sincere, but he felt the nervousness seeping into it.

"You look a little tired. You haven't been working too hard have you?" Dean wondered how many other department heads had to make the periodical rounds to check on former players or if his higher position made him more valuable, more special. Did Zachariah Adler use Dean's time in Supernatural as an excuse to break up his own work day?

"Oh no, sir. In fact I've been itching to get back to my old hours."

"And how is the therapy going?"

Dean almost flinched at the question. "Well, I think, sir."

"That's good to hear, Dean." Adler nodded thoughtfully. "I take it from that woman's presence that you know about our business with Roman Enterprises?"

"Just the basics, sir."

Adler nodded again. Both men were silent for a long moment, Dean unsure of what was expected from him. Suddenly Adler clapped his hand together, making Dean jump. "Well, Dean, I've been hearing nothing but good things about you lately." He grinned and pointed a finger at Dean. "Keep up the good work." The meeting seemed to be over, Adler making his way to the door once more. Just as he grabbed the door knob he turned to look at Dean as if suddenly remembering something. "And Dean, don't worry yourself with the Roman account. We have plenty of people on it. You just focus on you, and getting back up to par." Adler grinned, showing neat white teeth that reminded Dean of a predator. "And hey, all that paperwork can keep you busy."

"Yes, sir." Dean managed a stiff response and a stiffer smile as his boss left his office. With a heavy sigh, Dean sank back into his chair. Maybe when he finds Castiel and brings him home, the two men could take a vacation. To an island. With no people and no electronics.

~*~

"Ben!" The shout stopped Ben as he made his way out of the school building. "Ben, hey, wait up!" He turned to find Adam Milligan chasing him down.

"Hey Adam, what's up?" Ben shifted his bag higher on his shoulders. 

"Ask your mom if you can stay the night tonight?" Adam spoke through his panting, unwilling to wait until he could catch his breath.

"Ok. Why?" Ben frowned as he dug his phone out of his pocket and texted his mother.

"Because shit is going down in Purgatory tonight." Adam's smile was somewhere between excitement and fear.

"What are you talking about?"

"Apparently some newb came crashing into the game, traveling completely out of his home territory, and starting trouble with the Vampires."

Ben froze, lifting wide eyes from his phone to look at his friend. "What race is he?"

"Demon. You know how they don't care for rules or manners." Adam snorted. "Anyway, a party of vamps are talking about tracking him down and really making an example of him. Not only killing him, but knocking down his skill level and maybe putting a lock on him so he can't step out of Demon territory."

"Damn!" Ben said a little too loudly, catching the attention of a teacher who turned to frown at him and point away from the school. With a nod Ben grabbed Adam and began walking toward home.

"I know, right!" Adam was growing positively giddy. "It's going to be epic."

"It would be if it wasn't the guy I've been traveling with." Ben frowned and looked at his phone once more to check for a response from his mother.

"What?"

"It old you I was showing a new player the ropes, trying to help him find the portal."

"Yeah, I assumed it was another Changeling, a kid."

"Nah. Some guy late to the VR party. Anyway, he's real determined to get to the portal and he got a tip that it was near Vampire territory. And he's kinda got a short temper, so when he asks for info and they don't help, he kinda kills them."

"Shit, Ben, you gotta stop travelling with this guy. He sounds dangerous."

"He's not really, just sorta stressed. There's someone he's looking for and so he's worried." Ben shook his head. "Anyway, he's not as bad as he sounds. He saved my life anyway." Ben looked down at his phone again, this time because it pinged a notification. "Mom said yes. Come on, I've got to get my gear so I can log on at your house and warn Winchester."

"Isn't that a type of gun?" Adam mumbled as he followed his friend.

~*~

"Hey kid, who's your friend?" Winchester asked as he stretched out his avatar, a ritual he did at the start of all his game play.

"Abel." The new guy, another Changeling, held out his hand and Winchester shook it slowly. "So you're what all the fuss is about." He let out a laugh and shook his head. "You don't look like anything special."

"What's he talking about?" Winchester jerked a thumb at Abel as he turned to frown at Deson.

"I told you not to keep killing everyone who couldn't answer your questions, but did you listen? No! And now apparently the whole damn race wants to kill you!" Deson threw his hands in the air.

"Cute pixie." Abel noted as he stared at Claire who sat on the Demon's shoulder.

"Back off." Winchester growled as he glared at the new kid for a long moment before turning back to Deson who had begin to pace. "Will you calm down for one damn minute and tell me what int he hell you're talking about?"

"The Vampires are pissed that you keep killing them off. Now they are getting a party together to take you down."

"Eh, we can take them." Winchester shrugged and not for the first time Deson wondered where the Demon got his bravado.

"Yeah well, if you don't I hear they have an expert hacker that will put a block on your character so you can't leave your home territory." Abel added what he believed to be the trump card.

Winchester shrugged. "I have my own hacker."

"You do?" Deson stopped short.

"Yeah." Winchester shrugged. "Anyway, if these guys are going to attack, let's get out there in the open. I don't have time to sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for these jackasses." The Demon adjusted his large sword strapped to his back. "Feel free to hang back. None of this is your fight."

"Well, I kinda joined it, didn't I? And I promised to get you to the portal. I'm not turning coward." The small Changeling squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest. Winchester laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Thanks." They both looked at Abel.

"Well, I'm not hanging back! I came to see the show and I want front row seats!" He clapped his hands together once, grinning wide as he returned the stares of the other two players.

"Ok then, let's get back out there, head to the last bit of the map we have to search." Winchester glanced down at Claire. "Lead the way." The pixie fluttered from his shoulder and away, knowing the others were behind her.

"This way Daddy!" Her bell-like voice carried back to them. Abel turned wide, confused eyes on his friend as he mouthed the last word quietly. Deson shook his head and followed Winchester.

They had a bit of a walk to get to the unchecked territory since they had been forced to find the small bit of neutral territory in the area to log out the night before. If they didn't find the portal soon they would spend too much of their time trekking back and forth to the safe zone to be able to search much each day. This would be a bigger problem now that they had to avoid the main Vampire and Dragon towns. They needed to find the portal soon.

Deson noticed that Claire had gotten a lot closer to Winchester around twenty minutes into their search. Whereas normally she would fly far enough ahead of them that she was mostly just a dull glow to the Changeling, now she was within arm's reach of the Demon. In fact, she was close enough that when she quietly, shakily, spoke to Winchester, Deson heard every word.

"Daddy, there are now twenty Vampires closing in."

"Twenty? Really? Well, they are going to give me a good fight at least." Winchester mumbled. "How far out?"

"Eighty yards." She gasped. "Another ten players just joined them." Deson let out a groan, drawing the other's attention.

"You can still back out." Winchester offered.

"Nah." The word was far short of enthusiastic.

"I wonder if they will put a lock on all of us or just him." Abel seemed to be talking to himself. "I can maybe talk my way out." Both Winchester and Deson turned to glare at him. "Sorry." Abel held up his hands. "Just thinking out loud."

"Well don't." Deson shook his head and they focused on the walk once more. 

The next time anyone spoke it wasn't one of their party.

"Wondering through enemy territory with shitty gear and only a couple of kids as back up. Demons aren't known for their smarts but this is pretty stupid even for them." The Vampire came into view as the trio stepped into a small clearing. He stood near to the center to draw the attention to him, but the clusters of other purple clad players were distracting.

"Not backup." Winchester said as he took another few steps closer, his hand twitching at his side to silently command the Changelings to hang back. Neither kid needed to be told twice. "I don't need backup to take down some slow, dim-witted Vampires." Deson let out a noise between a groan and a sigh, although he knew he shouldn't be surprised by the other man's taunting. 

"Big words for a man about to be cut down." The Vampire drew his sword slowly.

"Shit." Abel hissed, drawing his friend's attention.

"What is it?" Deson took a step closer to the other Changeling even as he kept his eyes on as many of the Vampires as he could.

"You see the Vampire's sword?" Abel's words had Deon turning his focus to the long broad sword in the Vampire's hand, the dull light of Purgatory's muted sun catching on the almost spikes a the tip of the blade. "It's the sword Bloodfang. I've heard you need a two-handed sword skill of at least nine-fifty to wield it."

"Nine hundred-fifty? Damn."

"Yeah. If he is using it he's gotta be General Sorento. Heard of him?"

"The right hand man of the second largest vamp guild? Yeah, I've heard the name."

"Yeah, he' well known because a lot of the Vampires swear Sorento is the game's strongest player."

"The strongest..." Deson looked out to where the Vampire was squaring off against Winchester, a guy who had been playing Purgatory for less than a week. The Changeling actually flinched. 

Winchester, however, did not. As Sorento charged forward for the first attack, the Demon raised his own blade to block. Only, it didn't work that way. Instead, Sorento's blade went right through Winchester's, hitting the Demon in the shoulder and sending him crashing back into a tree. 

"What was that?" Deson asked in a panic.

"Bloodfang has a special skill, Ethereal Shift, which allows it to phase when someone tried to block it with a shield or sword."

"How the hell is Winchester supposed to fight?" His question was answered as the Demon recovered and charged the Vampire in an attack of his own. If Winchester kept on the offensive he might stand a chance, but if Sorento got in another heavy blow with that skill, chances were the Demon wouldn't last very long.

"Have to say, I'm a little surprised you're still alive." Sorento said as their swords clashed. As he pushed against the Demon's weapon he took a step back. "At least all the rumors I have heard about you have some weight."

"Can't say the same. Haven't heard of you." Winchester smirked as he slashed at Sorento, forcing the Vampire back another step.

"Haven't been playing very long?" Sorento swung and Winchester moved to the side, now knowing blocking was not an option for him.

"Not Purgatory." Winchester swung his sword in a downward arc, Sorento's blade glancing off it at the end of the swing, sending Winchester a half step to the right even as he swung again. "But I've played others."

"Maybe you should have stuck with those others." Sorento sneered and thrust his blade at the Demon, barely missing cutting Winchester's neck. The banter stopped as both players focused on the fight, swords flashing quickly between them, the clang of metal the only noise. As they continued to fight Winchester became aware of his avatar tiring. Even if he survived this fight there were at least thirty other Vampires wanting him dead. Would they take turns if their leader fell to the Demon? He doubted it. Winchester took a deep breath as he readied himself to make another strike. He had to focus on this fight. Any other challenges could wait. And none would stop him from reaching the portal.

"I don't think this is going to end well." Abel said as the Changelings watched the fight. "I get that they seem to be matched in skill level, but Sorento's weapon is better."

"Winchester can do it. I know it." Deson refused to look at his friend, knowing the other kid was wondering where this strong sense of loyalty came from.

Winchester let out a loud grunt as he stumbled backward into a tree. Even from their distance from the fight, the Changelings could see the way the Demon's chest was heaving from the heavy breathing and the series of cuts that glowed amid his black clothing. Deson found himself silently willing the Demon to recover quicker, fight harder, win already! But before Winchester could move Sorento was already charging at him again, sword aimed for a killing strike. Instead of moving or even weakly trying to hopelessly fend off the blow, Winchester threw up a hand and mouthed a few quick words. Sorento was pushed back a handful of steps just as a black cloud of smoke expanded and enveloped the clearing and all the players. 

"I need to borrow this for a second." The voice caused Deson to jerk his head around, searching for the other player, but he could make out nothing in the smoke. Suddenly he felt a tug at his hip before the weight of his sword disappeared. 

"Winchester?" Deson hissed, turning left and right, straining to see. Instinct had him reaching for his weapon to draw against any unseen enemies but it was gone. "Shit." The Changeling mumbled before growing very still to listen to the game around him.

"Was that meant to buy you a little time?" Sorento's words rose over the noises of the other confused players. "Second, Demon, that's all you bought!" Finally the smoke began to clear outward from the enraged Vampire and the sword he had just swung. With the illusion magic gone everyone could see once more. And they all clearly saw Sorento standing alone in the clearing.

"What the hell?" Deson mumbled.

"Shit. He's gone." Abel began backing up from the clearing.

"No." Deson shot out a hand and grabbed his friend. "No, he wouldn't do that."

"What? Run away from a fight, leave us to die? Well it sure as hell looks like he did." Deson shook his head quickly, trying to come up with the words to reassure his friend even as his own confidence begin to wane.

Then they heard the snap of a branch. Everyone there looked up and most let out startled gasps. Above them, Winchester was jumping from tree to tree, like a damn Demon monkey, as he looked for the best angle to attack from. Finally he was pushing off from a particularly thick limb and diving at the Vampire below him. Both Winchester and Sorento aimed their swords at one another, but the Vampire's was noticeably aimed higher. Deson watched as his friend's blade cut along Sorento's midsection while the Vampire's sword just barely missed Winchester's neck. Still, one twitch and Sorento's mighty sword would cut clean through the Demon's neck. Only, instead of the hiss of a cut and the glowing black of a wound, they heard the sound of metal impacting metal. Behind his head, Winchester's arm was raised awkwardly so that a second sword had blocked the Bloodfang. The impact, the trajectory, the skill sent Winchester in a flip over the Vampire's head. Between the cut from one sword and the block from the other, Sorento was sent stumbling away.

Winchester recovered first.

The other players stood in stunned silence as the Demon ran at Sorento, dual blades slashing at the Vampire as he struggled to turn back toward his opponent and fight back. Winchester quickened his pace, blades moving too rapidly to even accurately see, as he took full advantage of his surprise attack.

At last Sorento recovered enough to block a single strike of both blades. The force of the impact between the three swords sent sparks flying and Winchester stumbling back two steps. Sorento thrust into the empty space.

"Die!" The Vampire screamed as his blade plunged toward the Demon.

"Not!" Winchester blocked with his borrowed blade, arm feeling the strain of the superior weapon's force. "Today!" His other sword ran clean through the Vampire's midsection. Winchester dug his feet in and pushed off the packed earth of the forest floor. Taking steps closer he pushed Sorento back, still impaled, until his back hit a tree, the tip of the blade digging into the bark. An observer could note it was the same tree Winchester first hit at the start of the fight.

Blade still in the Vampire's chest, Winchester let out an demonic howl as he swung the second sword through the air, taking the other player's head clean off. Silence filled their corner of Purgatory as everyone watched as the purple flames spread from the severed neck and engulfed Sorento's body. Winchester stood over the ball of Remain Light, arm's slack at his sides, chest rapidly moving in simulated breathing, head bowed.

The silence was broken by a clap that made Winchester visibly flinch. Everyone's attention was drawn to the new Vampire now entering what had been the fighting space. 

"I gotta say, I'm real glad to see you still have all those skills, brotha." The Vampire grinned wide and Winchester frowned for a long second as he considered the new player. Finally something clicked with the Demon and he, too, was grinning.

"Benny?"

"In the virtual flesh." The Vampire spread his arms wide as if putting himself on display. Winchester chuckled as he moved forward. Crossing the space between him and his friend, he slipped his sword over his shoulder and back into its sheath. The borrowed blade he rammed into the dirt by the metal so it stood proud, waiting for its true owner. Winchester grabbed Benny up in a tight hug.

"It's good to see you, too, Dean." Benny said quietly into his friend's ear before they finally let go.

"Couldn't get rid of that damn accent, could you?" Dean laughed as he clapped a hand to his friend's shoulder.

"It was Andrea's idea, actually. Said if I had to play at least I could make it easy for you to spot me." Benny's smile faltered. "She still ain't happy I'm doing this, but she understands."

"Well, that makes one of us. Want to tell me what the hell you're doing playing again?" Dean frowned, worry seeping into him. Out of the corner of his eye he say Deson and Abel approaching.

"Let's find some place else where we can actually talk." Benny offered. Dean only nodded as he noticed other players now getting closer. He had almost forgotten all the other Vampires that wanted to kill him.

"What about them?" Dean waved a hand at the purple clad figures.

"I'll handle this." Benny turned to face his fellow vampires and Dean was stuck wondering just how long his friend had been playing this new game. The thought brought more worry with it.

 

"I can't believe they went for it." Abel said as they sat down at a table in a tavern Benny had suggested. They were inside a Vampire town, a venture only made possible when Dean agreed to give over his rather large stash of gold to the guild Sorento had gathered to hunt him down.

"Well, they are a greedy bunch. Prefer making money to loosing their lives and skills." Benny confirmed as he raised a hand to get the attention of a waitress. He held up two fingers, twisting his hand to show her first the front then back of his hand.

"So they are like pirates, you said." Deson questioned. "Vampire pirates." He turned to Dean with a huge grin and they both spoke. "Vampirates." Abel and Benny laughed and all four almost missed seeing the waitress place two beers and two waters on the table in their mirth.

"Man, I sure missed you, brotha." Benny calmed enough to take a drink.

"Same here, but you could have called me to talk. You didn't need to take a dive." Dean was all seriousness once more.

"This ain't about catching up, Winchester." Dean was glad Benny had no trouble leaving his real name out of it since their initial greeting. "This is about helping you get your Angel back." Out of the corner of his eye Dean caught the confused look Abel shot Deson.

"And how are you planning on doing that?" Dean asked.

"You know where the portal is?" Deson leaned in a little closer.

"How'd you find it?" Abel added.

"I've picked up on some conversations." Benny smirked. "Players talk more when they are talking to players of the same race." He looked at Dean. "If I had found out it wasn't here I have someone willing to come in as a Dragon."

"What the hell? Who? How did you even know about the Vampire thing?"

"Your brother called." He waited the beat it took Dean to understand.

"You know he's not r-"

"Close enough, trust me." Benny cut him off with a shrug. "Point is, you got plenty of people in the real world wanting to help you on this." For a long moment Dean wasn't sure of what to say. Abel took care of it.

"Shit. My mom is coming home, we have to log out."

"What?" Deson frowned.

"She'll be gone tomorrow and we can be logged in all day. I swear." Abel stood.

"That's ok, it gives Winchester and I a chance to catch up before we hit the portal tomorrow." Benny nodded at the Changelings. Deson looked at Dean as if he was about to apologize.

"Don't worry kid." Even as he poke the words it seemed like the Demon was doing just that. "We'll make it to the Portal tomorrow." He looked at his friend and the Vampire nodded. "Get some rest tonight."

"Yeah. Ok." Deson agreed and stood as well.

"Can I join, too?" Abel asked hesitantly.

"Sure. He'll need all the help he can get from what I hear of it." Benny spoke and Dean only nodded his agreement.

"Then we'll see you tomorrow." Abel waved and left to get a room to be able to sign out safely.

"Eight A. M. server time ok with you kids?" Benny asked. "Don't want Cas waiting any longer than he has to."

"Sure." 

"Ok. Then we'll plan on getting to the Portal in the morning, maybe rotating out at lunch, then see what we can do to help Winchester get through in the afternoon."

"Got it." Deson nodded and followed his friend to a room.

"Where did you find a couple of kids to help you?" Benny chuckled.

"Saved Deson on my first day in game. He just kinda stuck with me." Dean shrugged. "So how long you been playing Purgatory?"

"Just two days. Your friend Charlie talked to Sam who called me. Signed on right after I promised Andrea I would just play long enough to help."

Dean shook his head. "I still can't believe you're here. What have you been up to?"

"That conversation calls for another drink." Benny waved down the waitress once more and Dean found himself wishing the other man lived close enough to enjoy a beer with him in the real world. Maybe when this was all said and done for real, they could meet up somewhere, all the old group, either in the real world or somewhere they all felt safe in the virtual one. Dean was sure Castiel would really enjoy that. The thought brought a smile to his face as he turned his focus back to the friend sitting in front of him.


	8. Captive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter, but it was an extra chapter than I had planned, so there's that. Already working on the next and hoping to get it up before my next scheduled update. Only two or maybe three chapters left guys! Bare with me, the end is near.

Castiel lay in the too big bed in his cage, trying to calm his racing heart. Richard had left just under an hour ago and Castiel's skin still crawled with the memory of the man's touch on the exposed skin of his arms and chest. Surely he could feel pride in his ability to hold back his vomit every time Roman got too close, touched him, breathed sickening words into his ear. Castiel deserved some kind of epic award for his restraint and tolerance. Maybe the reward was in the patience itself. After all, his waiting had finally paid off this very day. Roman had spent a portion of their time together complaining about the ridiculously unnecessary and very likely boring meeting he was forced to attend for his company. The complaints had been mingled with the man's reassurances that while the trip to the foreign office, unspecified for whatever reason, and subsequent meeting would delay Roman's visit, Castiel would not be without his captor for too long. Roman would visit as soon as he had the chance, although it would be longer than he would like. Any time longer than his too frequent visits was an opportunity in Castiel's mind.

Finally, Castiel was sure he had himself under control enough to follow through with his plan. Climbing out of the bed, Castiel shot timid glance at the two birds sitting on the outer ledge of the cage. It wasn't the first time he had wondered if the modified creatures were merely cameras to keep an eye on him. But Roman's lack of coding on the key pad and his only recently abandoned distaste for all things gaming had Castiel reassuring himself against the notion. If he let his every doubt stop him there would never be an escape from this prison.

With slightly more steady steps Castiel made his way to the door of the cage. His hand shook slightly as he lifted his fingers to slowly, carefully, push on the numbers of the keypad. Under his breath he repeated the numbers to himself for reassurance. "Eight. One. Six. Four. One. Two. Zero. Five." He held his breath as the gate finally slid open for him.

Taking a deep breath, Castiel stepped out onto the thick branch that held his cage, his bare feet hitting the smooth path before him. He let his eyes take in the long branch as it wound among the other branches toward the heart of the tree. The foliage was too thick and the tree too massive for the Angel to be able to see much, but he knew something must be there, at the middle of it all.

"I promise, Dean, I won;t give up. Not before I find a way out or you find a way to me. We beat Supernatural, we'll beat this." He squared his shoulders and took another steadying breath. Without further hesitation he began walking along the worn path of the branch.

He seemed to walk forever along the branch, far longer than he would have believed, but then he was in a virtual world and there were no limits to how vast the tree could be. Of course, Castiel's cautious pace only slowed his progress further as he paused before every bend, stopped at any noise including the rustle of the leaves in the wind. It made his passage along the branch slow, but it also made him sure of not encountering Roman or any possible minions he may have in the game.

Castiel was peeking out from around a bend in the branch which had grown so large the nearer he got to the main tree that the sides where the path had been cut away were walls taller than the Angel when he saw the unmistakable shape of an arched doorway. Finally he had reached the main tower of the tree and the hope of something more.

He paused for a long moment, listening to the sounds around him, watching the doorway for any movement. When he was sure he was alone he rushed to the entrance, stopping to press his back to the outside wall and lean out just enough to see inside. All he could see was the dark, cave-like interior of the tree. Another deep breath for courage and Castiel was moving quickly into the tunnel. The light from the outside was growing dimmer than Castiel would have liked by the time he reached anything of significance. And then it was a wall.

Glancing over his shoulder to check that no one had followed him as much as to assure himself the opening in the tree was still accessible, Castiel turned back to the wall and noticed a thin red circle on the wall at chest height. Hesitantly he reached out a hand and realized he could fit it all in the outline. With a light shake in his arm, he pressed his hand to the wall. The circle glowed with a series of blue squares until the while thing lit up and turned green. Suddenly a door was sliding open in front of him. With a startled gasp Castiel jumped to the side, out of the line of sight of anyone who may be on the other side of the entrance.

When only silence greeted him, Castiel peaked into the room beyond. It was another damn hall. This one was lit by a series of lighted arches along the length of the space that seemed to curve into the distance. With renewed determination he stepped over this new threshold and onto the tiled floor of a very different path. He chose to stay close to the wall, nearly hugging the sooth surface in an effort to stay out of sight of any possible others. By now, however, Castiel was beginning to think he had been along in his tree, visited only occasionally by Roman. Still, he wasn't going to be reckless about exploring.

Something along the wall ahead caught his eye and Castiel backed up a few steps quickly. He waited a long beat before peeking around the bend once more. It looked like a piece of art hung on the wall. Carefully, Castiel moved forward more until he was able to make out the item. He was shocked to note it was map.

It was a large circular drawing, and Castiel was not surprised to note the tree was a perfectly round creation. Roman didn't tolerate imperfection well. Looking closer he noticed the different areas of the map; boxy room divided by fine white lines and labeled neatly, large ones circling the perimeter of the circle, forming a pentagon of sorts in the middle where more rooms, these smaller and in an array of colors that no doubt held some significance were clustered. None of that mattered as Castiel's eyes moved over the diagram looking for a particular symbol or phrase. Somewhere in this fortress must be a command console where he could log out. Suddenly his breath hitched and he did a double take at one of the larger outer rooms. The words "Experiment Hanger" sent a wave of nausea rolling through him as he recalled Roman's monologue on what his company was using the players to research. He now had a new destination.

By the time the doors to the new room opened, Castiel was sure he had spent too much time just wondering around. His cautious creeping in the halls had wasted time but he couldn't take any chances if he wanted to better his chances of escape. He just hoped there was a console in this room that would help him. 

When Castiel got his first glimpse of the room beyond the circular doorway, his first reaction was utter confusion. The room beyond was filled with metal pillars reaching shoulder height and projecting blue lit images above them. With a frown Castiel stepped into the room and through the first few rows before a soft beeping noise caught his attention and drew him closer to a pillar. As he got closer the figure caught in the blue field of light became clearer and Castiel realized he was staring at the projected image of a human brain. As he stared in growing recognition and horror, small screens lit up and shifted, turning with the brain to denote the various regions and functions. Below each label was a pulsing bar. Castiel realized it was monitoring the emotion levels. The pain region on this particular brain moved steadily back and forth between halfway and full.

"Oh god." Castiel's eyes grew wide as he stumbled back a step. "It's suffering." He looked around frantically, taking in the multitude of pillars filling the room around him. "They're all players. And they're all suffering. Dear god. This is horrible." His voice shook as he struggled to process the disastrous information thrust his way. Finally he calmed slightly and stood a little straighter, more determined. "He won't get away with this." He lay a hand on the cold metal of the pillar in front of him and though he knew the player couldn't hear him, Castiel spoke assurances nonetheless. "I promise you it will be okay. I will figure out a way to save all of you." He turned at the sound of the room's door opening and ducked behind the pillar. First things first, he had to save himself.

Soft steps echoed through the room as the new visitor made their way between the pillars. "Time to see what everyone's up to." A tired male voice said into the silence. The steps stopped and a low beep sounded before the man was talking once more. "Oh this guy is dreaming about Taylor Swift again. His B-thirteen and B-fourteen fields are way off the scale. And his sixteen is getting up there too. He's really excited. Bet it's that damn song."

"It's only the third experiment." A second voice spoke. "Couldn't it just be a coincidence?"

"No, it's definitely the induced emotion circuit. Do you get that excited over music? And his levels were not that high at the start. He's over the threshold now because of the frequency with which the images and music occurs."

"Well then, we have to keep monitoring him. I'll put him on the list."

Castiel had heard enough, more than he wanted to really. This information was of no use to him and he needed to put more space between him and those men. Crouching, he looked around the side of the pillar in the direction the voices came from and determined he wouldn't be seen. Body hunched, he darted to the next pillar away from the men. For once he was glad Roman had never given him shoes as it kept his movement quiet as he moved from pillar to pillar. Before each new move he looked back where he had come and then forward where he planned to go to make sure the coast was clear along both paths. He lost count of how many pillars he had passed when he suddenly came to a much larger open space. Castiel had reached the center of the room. Looking to his left he saw at the far end of the row a black box floating next to the wall. He could just make out the texture and blue lines so closely resembling the large black console Claire had used in Supernatural. This is what he had been searching for.

Leaning against the nearest pillar, Castiel straightened up just enough to see over the top of the metal. He was looking through a blue haze due to the hologram brain, but it didn't hinder his ability to see the two men across the room talking over a player's brain. He had heard their steps every so often so he knew it was a new brain, but they were moving slow enough he didn't view them as a threat. Lowering himself back down, he turned and ran for the system console as quickly as he could while not making noise with his bare feet hitting the floor.

The distance had obscured just how high the box floated in the air. Castiel nearly let out a groan at having to straighten to his full height and reach his hand above his head to reach the access card protruding from the console. With a silent plea for success, Castiel slid the card through a path in the console. A second later his virtual heart jumped as a series of glowing keyboards appeared in the air in front of him. It worked!

Quickly Castiel scanned the many functions and options now available to him, looking for any phrases that could possibly mean logging out. Finally one caught his eye.

**Leave Virtual Laboratory**

Without hesitation he tapped the key, earning him a system prompt with a small chime.

**Terminate all services and log out.  
** **!!If you do nothing, the server will automatically log out after a 2 minute wait!!  
[Cancel] [Log Out]**

This time, the shaking in his hand was from excitement as Castiel reached out to tap the log out button.

A hand wrapped around his extended wrist and jerked his hand back. The force of the pull spun Castiel around as he was tugged away from the console and wrapped in strong arms. The men working on the brains had looked small, skinny even, from a distance, but it had been deceiving. Now as they wrestled to keep Castiel from reaching the console once more, he realized one of them was slightly taller than him and the other was very obviously broader int he shoulders and chest than he was. The second one finally managed to get a hold on Castiel that he couldn't break. His struggling became much less effective.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The man in front of him spoke and Castiel realized it was the man he had first heard in the room.

Castiel thought quickly before frowning angrily. "Put me down now! Richard Roman and I are very close. I have his permission to be here and was just about to leave when you grabbed me."

"No one informed us you were going to be here today." The man looked at the one holding Castiel for confirmation.

"I wasn't told. All I know is he doesn't want _anyone_ seeing this stuff. Ever."

The first one hummed before leaning in a little closer to study Castiel more. Suddenly his eyes grew wide and he pulled back. "Hey, this is the guy Roman keeps locked up at the top of the Paradise Tree."

"Oh, I had heard about that. I have to say, I don't see what all the fuss is about." The grip on his arms tightened, forcing a cry of pain from Castiel.

"Let me go...assbutt!" He stuttered out as he gave another struggle.

"Hold still!" The man tightened and shifted his grip. Castiel wondered briefly if his avatar would have bruises. Roman would probably enjoy that. "What the hell did he call me?"

"Oh, don't be so mean. After all you're the one who interrupted out deep-sense experiment."

"You're scientists? All this is wrong! It's illegal to mess with people's minds. Illegal and unethical!" He felt more than heard the low chuckle of the man holding him as the other spoke.

"Well it's a bit more ethical than sticking probes into the brain of some poor animal, really. Our experiments are just dreams. We show our subjects the most wonderful dreams you would wish you would never have to wake from."

"I wish I had dreams like these." The man behind him mumbled.

"You're insane." Castiel hissed. There was a low, almost growl coming from the man holding him just before another too hard grip. Castiel barely held back another pained noise as the man spoke.

"Roman is away on business. Log out and find a way to contact him. Find out what he wants us to do with this guy."

"Fine. But go easy on him. Even if it's virtual, you keep roughing the guy up and he complains to Roman you're going to be in serious trouble." The man pointed an accusing finger at his coworker.

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up."

Castiel watched in resignation as the scientist clicked on the log out button meant for him. His body sagged with heavy disappointment as the man turned into glowing blue coding that faded away.

"Thought he would never give us a moment alone." Suddenly Castiel was all too aware of the warm, hard body pressed against his own, the mouth too close to his ear so that he felt the damp breath of each word. He renewed his struggle.

"Let me go!" Wiggling he felt a surge of hope as one hand let go for a second before relocating and sending nausea coursing through Castiel again.

"Why would I do that? Besides the boss having my head for such a move, I am enjoying this too much to give it up just yet." As he spoke his hand ran across Castiel's bare stomach, pinky finger teasing at the top of the too thin material.

"Stop." Castiel pushed through clenched teeth, unable to flinch away from the touch without leaning into the man.

"Come on, we can have a little fun before you have to go back to being Roman's little doll." A leg slid between Castiel's, pushing his stance wider as the hand trailed down his hip and circled around his thigh. Repressing a gag, Castiel inhaled harshly through his nose before throwing his head back into the man's face. The scientist let out a loud shout of pain as he let go of his captive to grab at his nose. Unfortunately Castiel was dazed from the move as well and could only sway on his feet. "Shit." The man hissed and turned murderous eyes on Castiel a moment before backhanding him. The blow threw Castiel sideways into the system console, his hands scrambling for purchase before he slid to the ground on his knees. "I need to lower my damn pain sensors." The words were muffled as he rubbed his nose, weary eyes still trained on Castiel.

In a flash of coding the other scientist was back, frown firmly in place already as he took in the new positions of the men he had left behind.

"What happened here?"

"Nothing." His coworker grumbled, reaching down and roughly grabbing Castiel by a bicep to haul him to his feet. "What did the boss say?"

"He was livid." Reaching down, he grabbed Castiel's other arm and helped pull him along, speaking as they made their way from the lab. "He demanded we return him to the cage, change the code, and watch her twenty-four, seven."

"We are not body guards, dammit." The growled words preceded a harsh tug that had Castiel stumbling over the threshold into the hallway.

"Be careful."

"Like Hell. This guy has already caused more trouble than he's worth. And by the time we reach the cage all marks will be gone anyway."

Castiel listened and moved in a daze. He couldn't be sure if it was residual from a too low pain threshold or the light of hope that had been brutally ripped from him. Either way, the walk back to his cell barely registered as little more than the occasional rough tug or tight grip. At least the man had been right, by the time he was watching the bars on the cage slip open all evidence of the fight in the lab was gone. It was with a surprisingly clear and calm demeanor that Castiel stepped into his cage once more, back turned to the closing gate and captors. After the low beeping of the keypad, Castiel wasn't surprised to hear the men's footsteps fading. They talked quietly of checking on him periodically rather than actually standing guard outside the door. He was grateful for the silence that was left in their wake as he took a steadying breath.

"This won't stop me, Dean, nothing will." His voice was full of promise, determination as he mumbled the words to himself. Finally he let his eyes fall to the small plastic card in his hand as he gripped it tight.


	9. Bonds

_"Can I spend some time with you today? Have lunch? I'm with a friend for the weekend and Mom has to work and has a date, she won't even have to know."_ Ben pleaded over the phone and Dean wondered just how much coffee Lisa drank to be able to deal with the teenager in the mornings, because he had certainly not had enough. Of course spending way too long logged in the night before talking to Benny had not done him any favors. By the time he did take off his Nerve Gear and drag himself to his bedroom, it had been too late to return Ben's call from that evening. It wasn't that he had been ignoring the kid, he did after all send him a text earlier in the week agreeing to talk to Lisa about seeing her son; it was more that between work, his visits to the hospital, and playing Purgatory, he hadn't been able to actually talk to his ex or give her son a real answer. Now it was Saturday and Ben had figured out the solution on his own.

"I would really love that kiddo, but I'm going to be real busy today. In fact, lunch is the only free time I am going to have and I was going to spend it at the hospital." Dean frowned down into his coffee cup. He didn't mean to push the kid away, but he was so close to getting Castiel back and he had to focus on that. "But I promise, soon things will get back to normal and you and I will hang out a lot more." He bobbed his head from side to side as if debating the point. "If your mother is willing." It was almost an afterthought, but he really didn't think Lisa would say no.

_"But maybe I could go to the hospital with you?"_ Ben's voice was hesitant.

"Would you really be interested in going with?"

_"Well, I mean, yeah. You spend a lot of time there. And I don't know. If you are ok with it. Yeah."_ He sounded so unsure, Dean took a long moment to think before finally answering.

"I'd really like that Ben."

_"Awesome."_ He could almost hear the kid's sigh of relief. _"Ok, um, you can pick me up at noon. I'll text you the address for my friend's house."_

"Ok. I'll see you then. Bye, Ben." Dean hung up just as he drank down the last of his coffee. Glancing at the clock he moved a little faster to grab a couple of pop-tarts he had kept on hand for Ben's visits and took them into his home office to eat as he sent a quick email to Charlie so she would know the plan for the day. The breakfast wasn't exactly filling, but it would hold him over until lunch while he played Purgatory, which he dived into as soon as he had swallowed the last of his food.

 

Winchester blinked in the dim lighting of the room he had logged out in the night before. It was a small, simple, temporary room. Just a place to safely log out for those only passing through. And all that was fine by him as he sat up in the bed and looked back on the sleeping figure of Claire. For a brief moment, as he took in her serene, innocent face, he wondered if it was possible to leave her safely tucked in this room as his group made their was to the portal. It wasn't that he ever wanted to part ways with the program he considered as his child, but simply that he had no idea what he would face at the portal. The memory of Supernatural's master system trying to delete Claire and the knowledge that only Sam's quick thinking and quicker actions had saved the girl, lay heavy on his heart. In his fight to rescue Castiel, he couldn't loose Claire.

"Good morning, Daddy." Claire blinked up at him with bright blue eyes that made Winchester's virtual heart ache. "We're going to get Papa today, right?"

"Yeah, Claire. Today." He couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face at the thought. "Come on. Let's go find the others." He stood and stretched his hands high into the air and arched his back, spreading into his avatar and settling more fully into the coding. It was like pulling on an old familiar coat. When he turned back Claire was already back in her tiny pixie form and flying up from the bed to land on his shoulder. Together they left the room and headed down to the main room to wait for the others of their party.

"Hey brotha'." Benny waved from a table tucked away in a corner of the room and Winchester made his way over as he made a habitual scan of the room. It didn't escape his notice or surprise him that many of the other players were watching him. 

"The kids not here yet?" Moving around the table, Winchester sat in the chair closest to the wall, keeping the rest of the room within his line of sight.

Benny shook his head and frowned at his friend. "You sure you want them going with us?"

"Can't hurt having extra hands." Winchester shrugged. He let out a low chuckle as Benny seemed to sag further into his seat. "It's an adjustment, isn't it, not having to worry about dying."

"Kind of a little to use to not putting others in danger if I don't have to." Benny confirmed.

"Yeah. Even knowing we're safe, I till protect the kid, make sure he stays alive." Dean rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he stared down at the table top.

"I can take care of myself." Deson's voice made the Demon jump.

"Shit, kid, make some noise." Winchester took in the sight of the two Changelings trying to look tough, their arm folded over their chests and stern frowns firmly in place.

"You don't have to protect me. I've done pretty damn good on my own in this game and I'm the one helping you." Deson seemed determined to assert his prowess and capability.

"Yeah, I know, kid. It's just..." Winchester exchanged a look with Benny before looking back at Deson. "It's just a long story." The words were practically a sigh.

"Come on, we'll play share and care some other time. We got a Portal to find and an Angel to rescue." Benny slapped his hands on the table before pushing himself up.

"Let's do this!" Abel threw a fist in the air and turned for the door, Deson rolling his eyes as he followed his friend. Winchester brought up the rear in silence, content to let his thoughts wonder just a little.

Almost two years he had played Supernatural. Two years of fighting to stay alive. Two years on the front lines clearing floors so that other, weaker players didn't have to. He had been reckless for a while, now caring how dangerous a fight was and certainly never backing down from a challenge. Plenty of times he had fought alongside others, some even friends. Too many times he had watched players die. The affects of Supernatural had bled into Purgatory for him. Maybe even the rest of his life as the therapist had suggested. Even after being flippant with Victor, assuring him it would be easy to play a game without sure dire consequences, he had still felt that bone deep need to protect and live. Not once had Deson been in any real danger while traveling with Winchester and the Demon found himself confident things would remain that way with Benny's help.

The players traveled in silence. Walking in a line, three of them lost in their own thoughts and Abel with simply nothing to say, they made quick progress through the nearly colorless forest. Even if their mission wasn't one of such seriousness, surely the depressing scenery would put the players in a somber mood. Not for the first time Winchester was struck by the differences between this world and the one he had spent so much time in. It was almost funny how the game that had held so much death had been stunning in its scenery and yet Purgatory was so muted in color and life.

"There it is." Benny's confident words pulled Winchester from his thoughts moments before he would have stumbled into the others who had come to a stand still. Looking up, the Demon could just make out the Portal high up on the jagged cliff still a quarter mile ahead on the path they had been walking. It looked exactly as it did on the cover of game's case: a large, round hole in the world, blue edges crackling like lightening, and just a glimpse into the brightly lit paradise beyond.

Without thinking Winchester quickly moved around the other members of his party and in the direction of the portal. He had only made it a few feet before Benny had grabbed and pulled him to a stop. The look that the Demon gave the Vampire had Deson believing for a moment that their party was about to loose a player.

"Benny." It was more of a growl, the name Winchester said through clenched teeth. "Let. Go."

If this was real life, the Changelings would have been holding their breath as they watched the two men glare at each other.

"I'd love to do that, D-" The Vampire flicked his gaze briefly to the two boys at his near slip. "But I need you to slow down for a minute."

"It's right there! He's right there!" Winchester threw out his arm int he direction of the portal.

"I know, man. And we will get there, I promise. But we've been at this game for hours. The kid need to eat lunch, I need to check in with my wife, and you need to send a message to Charlie."

"What?" Finally, Winchester turned more fully to his friend, not looking like he was going to bolt for the first time since seeing the Portal.

"There's a rumor that the Portal is rigged." Benny sighed. "A lot of players have complained that when they get close enough, while they are fighting the N-P-Cs, the Portal moves. The G-Ms have assured players that there is no proximity sensor, but it's enough to make us cautious. When we charge in there, we need to make sure we get you through the Portal on the first try. We don't want to have to search the whole damn map for it again."

"Ok, where does Charlie figure in?" Winchester glanced at the others, hesitating at the frown on Deson's face, but turning back to Benny as the Vampire spoke.

"She said to give her a call when we are ready. She'll go over to your place and hook up to the program while you are in-game. She should be able to stop the Portal from moving. Should be able to buy us the time to get you in."

"You were serious about a hacker." Abel spoke up.

"Yeah." Winchester nodded.

"So you want to cheat to get through the Portal?" Deson huffed.

"Not cheat." Benny pointed out. "Just make things more fair. It's still going to be a fight to get to and through it. But our way makes sure it stays in place long enough for us to have a chance."

"You don't have to keep with us if it bothers you." Winchester turned to the boys. "Hell, you can even tell the G-Ms about it is it makes you feel better. But I ask that you do it tomorrow. I just need to get to him today." The Demon was practically pleading.

"This guy is really important to you, isn't he?" Deson' voice was gentle.

"Yeah. He really is." Winchester smiled softly. They were all quiet for a moment, Benny was a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Then we need to make sure you reach him." Deson spoke firmly this time.

"Thank you."

"Ok. Just like I said in my message this morning, assuming you all read it, we'll stagger our breaks in half hour slots." Benny took charge as the others nodded their agreement. "I know it's a huge chuck of time, but we need the break and we could be fighting for a while when we get back."

"Works for me." Winchester nodded and sat down against a tree in the clearing since he would be the first one to log out. "Be back in an hour." He caught the small waves the other sent his way as he tapped on his menu screen.

 

"Hey Charlie, Benny said that I'm supposed to give you a call, let you know that we reached the Portal." Dean grabbed his wallet and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans. "Well, we can see it from where we made camp."

_"Great! You're right on schedule. I'll head your way now."_

"Wait. No. I'm actually on my way out the door right now." Even as he spoke he grabbed up his keys and stepped out of his house, barely stopping to lock the door behind him.

_"Where are you going? You're in the middle of a game!"_

"Lunch break. I'll be back in an hour if you want to be here then you can hook up to the system as I log in."

_"Yeah, ok. Hey, I can grab something to eat on my way and just wait like last time."_

Dean let out a low laugh as he climbed into his car. "Ok. I'll see you then. Bye." Not waiting for a farewell in return, Dean hung up and started the car. He had only an hour to run around, eat, and see Cas. In the end he would probably only be at the hospital for twenty minutes, but he needed it. Needed the sight of the man he loved sleeping under the Nerve Gear helmet to give him strength for the up coming fight. With a deep breath he pulled away from his house and headed for the address Ben had send him that morning, stopping on the way for slices of pizza from their favorite place.

"Hey, does your friend was to join us? I mean, I know the hospital isn't the most exciting place to hang out, but I've got pizza." Dean held up a large box as proof to the smiling kid in the doorway of the house.

"Actually, he can't. But if you don't mind, I know he would love it if we left a slice or two here for him." Ben suggested.

"Sure. Do I get to meet this friend?" Dean followed the kid into the house and to the kitchen. As soon as the box was on the counter, Ben had it open and pulled two of the large slices out and onto a plate.

"Ummm, no. He's in the bathroom right now. But maybe when you drop me back off?"

"Sure." Dean nodded as they headed back through the house. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you this isn't going to be a long trip, I've got to get back by one. Got a friend coming over to my place."

"You're real busy today." Ben pursed his lips as he stared out the windshield of the car.

"Yeah. But things should calm down after today." Dean focused on the road, keeping a close eye out since he was speeding to get to the hospital.

"Why don't you put off the visit to the hospital? He'll be there tomorrow." As soon as the words were out, Ben wanted to grab them back. "I mean, I'm just saying, I think he would understand if you couldn't make it one day." He shrank in on himself in the silence, sure he had upset Dean.

"He would understand." There wasn't a hint of anger in the words, only sadness, and maybe a little resignation. "And this is more for me. I just... I need to see him." The last part was said into the car's silence and Ben looked up to realize they were already at the hospital. Quickly he climbed out of the car, pizza box in hand, to follow Dean who walked with determination. As they passed the nurse's station, Ben lowered the pizza a little, almost hiding the food, but the nurse only smiled and waved as they passed by. 

"Hey, Castiel, um, I brought someone today." Dean's voice was soft in the quiet room, a tone Ben remembered from the one time he had been sick and Dean had helped to take care of him. It sent a sharp pain through him to hear the man he considered as a father speaking to someone else with such a loving tone. "You remember me telling you about Ben, yeah?"

"You told him about me?" Ben turned, shocked, to look at Dean.

"Well, not in the game, no." Dean sighed as he sank into what must have been his usual seat. He waved toward another chair sat at a small table and Ben moved to it. "I didn't know what was going to happen when I got out of Supernatural, if I got out. I didn't want to talk about your mom and I didn't want to be too hopeful that we could still have a relationship, you and I."

"But it's what you want, right?" Ben was unsure.

"Yeah, of course." Dean leaned forward in his chair. "I want to keep what we have Ben, you're really like my son. And I want you to meet Castiel, get to know him when he waked up. I think ya'll will get along great."

Ben nodded slowly before opening the pizza box and taking out two slices. He stood just enough to hold one out to Dean. "Tell me about him." Dean smiled big and took a bite.

"He's great." With one hand he ate his pizza while the other held tightly to the hand of the sleeping man. "He saved my life, actually. That's how we met." Dean spoke around the food in his mouth, Ben listening intently. " I was stuck in a room and he helped get me out. I only really knew him for about a year."

As Dean paused to take an overly large bite and look down at Castiel, Ben thought about his words. A year. Dean had known the sleeping man for a year, about how long Ben had known him really, before Supernatural took Dean away. What did that mean for them when Castiel finally woke up? After all, Dean and Lisa had not lasted but a year together before Dean was pulling away, gaming more. Would Castiel wake up and both men realize that outside the game they weren't as good together?

"He was so badass, though." Dean laughed, as he continued. Be wondered if that was what he wanted for Dean, for this stranger to walk away and give Dean back to Ben. "He was one of the best fighters in the game. On the front lines. A real asset." But even if Castiel left, Dean wouldn't be going back to Lisa, that much was clear. Mostly Ben didn't want this new guy cutting into whatever time Ben could eek out from the man he considered the closest thing he would ever have to a father. "He was part of the largest guild in the game, too. Right under the commanders." Dean's chuckle filled the room as he smiled at the sleeping man as if they were sharing a joke. "An Angel. Kind of ironic now." Maybe Dean meant the words for only Castiel, the way he said them a little softer, but in the near silence of the room Ben heard them clearly.

"An Angel?" He frowned, his mind trying to grab onto fleeting notions. Angel. Cas-tiel. Trapped.

"Yeah." Dean nodded, unaware of the effect his words were having on the kid. "He said his name is angelic so he thought it was fitting. The rest of us gave him hell for using his real name. Even our friends who told us their real names, we kept them quiet when we talked. Except Sam and me, out avatars shared a name as brothers so everyone knew us by our names. Guess we really shouldn't have made fun of him." Dean's rambling still wasn't enough for Ben to compose himself, so when he spoke his voice shook a little.

"What was your name?"

Dean finally looked at Ben, a slight frown in place. "Why?"

"Just curious." Ben shook his head and cleared his throat, not sounding nearly as casual about it as he wanted.

"Winchester. It was a joke on out real names." Dean hadn't even finished speaking the name before Ben stood. By the time his explanation was done Ben was out of the hospital room. "Ben?" A quick kiss to Castiel's temple and he was going after the kid.

Hurrying through the halls without outright running, Ben made his way out to the Impala where he leaned against the passenger door and pulled in frantic breaths. Only a couple minutes later Dean came to a stop in front of him, a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"You're Winchester." He couldn't be sure how clear the statement was through the gasping, but with how still Dean stood, he thought it was clear enough.

"What's this about, Ben?" Dean's voice was soft, quiet, but still demanding some kind of explanation.

"We've got to go. The others are waiting for us." Ben pushed off the car and jerked the door open only to have Dean grab the window to stop it half way.

"Who is waiting? Ben, what's going on?"

"Benny and Abel." As the names sank in for Dean, Ben climbed into the car and finally pulled the door from the older man's grip to close it. Then Dean was running around the front end of the car and climbing quickly in.

"You're Deson?"

Ben only nodded, waiting a long minute for Dean to finally start the car. They left the hospital parking lot in silence as they both tried to process the new information.

"How does your mom feel about you playing?" Dean finally asked, shooting a glance at his passenger just in time to see Ben wince.

"She doesn't know. After the whole Supernatural thing she freaked out on regular video games, took away my Nintendo for two months!" The chuckle Dean let out relieved just a little of Ben's tension. "I bought the system in secret. Adam gave me the game. It's why I couldn't help you longer during the week, I had to be off before she got home." Dean nodded and they were quiet once more.

"I just... I don't get why you play." Ben turned at the harsh tone to see Dean frowning at the road in front of them.

"What?"

"I don't understand why you would think it was a good idea to step into virtual reality while I was laying in a hospital bed with the risk of dying because of it. What were you thinking taking the dive?"

"Are you kidding me?" Ben hissed. "Judgement coming from the guy that got locked in a game for two years and is now playing again."

"That's different. I have to. I need to try to get Cas out."

"So you'll risk everything for him? And when that's done you'll give up gaming forever? Bullshit!"

"Watch your language."

"Are you kidding me? You let Deson cuss."

"Deson ain't my kid."

"Neither am I!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth Ben regretted them.

"Ben." There was too much in that one pronoun, a warning, a plea, some exhaustion.

"No. You know what, I get it. You want out. Out of the Breaden house, out of reality, just out. Fine. Go. Be with your new boyfriend and forget about us. I'll be fine." Just as he finished speaking the car came to a stop in front of Adam's house. Ben threw open the passenger door just as Dean threw the car in park. 

"Ben!"

"No. I'll help you in Purgatory because I promised I would and if Cas and the other players really are trapped I want to help. But then I don't want to talk to you again." Ben slammed the door of the house closed, leaving Dean standing on the porch steps.

"Son of a bitch." Dean ran back to his car.

When he pulled up in front of his house he wasn't surprised to see Charlie sitting on the steps just as she had the weekend before. The realization that so much had happened in only a week's time was like a shock of lightening in the storm brewing in his mind. He tried to calm himself enough that Charlie wouldn't get caught in the chaos.

"Hey, you look kinda scary." She stood and gave him a hesitant smile. "Everything ok?"

"Just have more problems to deal with than I originally thought. Come on, I got to get back in the game."

"Lead the way." She fell into step behind him as he entered the house and went straight to the office. Without hesitation Charlie pulled a chair close to the cot and pulled out her laptop.

"You're sure you can do this? Make sure the Portal doesn't move?"

"Please, walk in the park." Charlie grinned and opened her laptop. "Go ahead and log in, I will do everything through your connection. If I need to get you information I'll use that little AI program you had me install." 

"Claire." Dean corrected.

"Cute."

Dean chuckled and laid down on the cot before a though occurred to him. "Hey, if you see anything about to happen to her, make sure you save her." Charlie frowned in confusion before giving him a nod. Reaching for his Nerve Gear, Dean settled the helmet back on his head and looked over at the hacker through the tinted plastic screen. "And hey, no molesting my hot bod while I'm playing."

"Wrong gender." She didn't even look up from where she was already typing away.

"Good to know." Dean nodded and laid back to look up at the ceiling. "Link start."

 

Winchester skipped his usual stretch upon entering the game. Instead, as soon as his avatar opened his eyes, he was standing and crossing the clearing to stand in front of the only other player awake.

"You're going to listen to everything I have to say and you're going to do it without saying a word or I will hold you down and make you listen." The Demon stared at at the Changeling, waiting for some indication of how things were going to be handled.

"Fine. Whatever." Deson grumbled.

"First, me breaking things off with your mom has nothing to do with you or Castiel. I've already told you, things just weren't working between us. I thought I made it clear that it wouldn't affect you and me but it seems you still don't get it. I think of you as a son, Ben. You are the majority of the reason I tried to make it work with your mom as long as I did. Nothing is coming between us. I'm not leaving you behind. Second, my playing Purgatory is strictly because of Castiel. No, I don't plan on giving up gaming forever, but I'll be damned if I had planned on playing again so soon after all the shit in Supernatural. So maybe I can't tell you not to play, but I will stress that you need to be careful. Please."

Both players were silent for a long moment; Winchester had nothing left to say and Deson was trying to process everything already said. Finally Deson nodded and Winchester seemed to sag with relief.

"You're not going to loose me, kid." Winchester reached out and pulled Deson into a hug.

"Woah, what did I miss?" Abel said from behind them and the two players pulled apart with a laugh.

"This is Dean, my dad." Deson looked up to gauge the effect the title had on the man. The bright smile that greeted him gave him reassurance. "This is my friend Adam." He gestured over to the other Changeling.

"Seriously? The guy that played Supernatural?" Abel's eye grew wide.

"Actually I beat it." Winchester shrugged.

"Really?" Deson was the one shocked this time.

"I'll tell you all about it sometime." For the first time Winchester really thought he would.

"Ok, good, we're all back." Benny clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Charlie all set up?"

"Yes. All hooked in and ready to help." Winchester nodded.

"Great. Let's get you through that portal then." Benny turned and began to lead the group in the direction of the glowing tear in the world, the others falling easily into step behind him once more. Suddenly Winchester took a step closer to Deson and spoke softly for only the Changeling to hear.

"I feel like I should make sure you did your homework before playing."

"Oh god, don't. Plus, it's Saturday, no homework." Deson shook his head.

"And gaming hasn't interfered with your grades at all.

Deson let out a heavy sigh. "No."

"Ok. Just checking."

"Can we go kill monsters now?" The chuckle that the Demon let out had the others glancing back at them, catching the smiles on their faces.

"Yes. Please."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me for this chapter! I know it seemed like a filler but it was planned all along and I think necessary. Hope you liked it at least a little!   
> The last chapter is coming! Depending on length there may be a epilogue, but if there is, I will post them at the same time so you don't have to wait for that last bit. Hopefully I will see you before next Monday!


	10. The Grand Quest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I added the rape/non-con tag just in case, so watch out in this chapter guys. Nothing actually happens, technically, but I would rather be safe than sorry.   
> And this one is going to be long, but there was no way I was going to split it up in any way. So, I hope you enjoy it.

Feet from the portal the first Leviathan appeared. Pools of black goo that rose up to create monsters to block their path, they were the game's ultimate fighters. Monsters reserved for only the most difficult of quests, strong enough that only one or two could keep all but the best of players from winning the difficult challenges. Everyone knew they guarded the Portal, it was a given really. Appearing before the party in their gray outfits, standing just larger than the players to be intimidating, and opening their mouths in toothy, too wide snarls, they came as no surprise. What caused Benny's steps to falter at the front of the group was that there were three of the monsters right from the start. This was going to be some battle.

There was no time to plan things as the three monsters moved forward, charging right at the players coming their way. Without hesitation, with moved practiced over years of just such fights, Benny and Winchester drew their weapons and engaged two of the creatures, leaving the third for the Changelings. The Leviathan didn't appear to be armed, not with conventional weapons, but their strength and speed made it impossible for them to be taken out as quickly and easily as players initially anticipated. Every time Winchester swung his heavy blade, the creature dodged to the side; each time Benny swung with the short ax he favored, the creature blocked the motion with his forearm against the Vampire's wrist; Deson and Abel found it hard to land blows even as they double teamed a creature. With each offensive movement the players were slowly moving away from one another, widening the gap one would have to cross to help the others. Winchester noticed this when he finally got a lucky blow in and struck the Leviathan right through the chest. The creature staggered back a step, just enough for Winchester to swing and cut off its head. 

"What is it with you and decapitation?" Deson said through his panting where he and Abel had finally cut their Leviathan enough to drain its HP to death. Even as he spoke, the Changelings were moving closer to where Benny still struggled with a Leviathan.

"It's a sure thing." Winchester responded as they watched Benny swing his ax at a slight angle, cutting through the Leviathan's neck at a slant.

"Very few monsters can survive missing their head." The Vampire spoke as they watched gray sludge, rather than the flames they were used to with players, seep from the wound and dissolve the Leviathan.

There was a stunted moment of silence as the four players looked between each other and the open ground separating them from the Portal. Surely that had been too easy. Every experienced player who had been able to get this close had spoke to the impossible nature of reaching the Portal! Granted three Leviathan would be difficult for a single player, but other parties had charged the Portal, big enough to take on these creatures. With skeptical frowns in place, the players began a hesitant march for the Portal once more. And once again Leviathan appeared to block the way. This time five. Winchester and his party were beginning to understand the true nature of the quest they faced.

Again the Leviathan were moving forward before the players could do more than take a single steadying breath. This time, however, Winchester and Benny stayed close to one another a they both struck at a single Leviathan each and somehow managed to keep a third occupied between them. Winchester cut deep into the shoulder of his enemy and while the creature was pulling itself off his broad blade, the Demon grabbed at the dagger he kept at his belt. Time spent mastering the dual wielding skill in Supernatural assured that when he threw that small blade it hit the third creature attacking in the eye. The giant mouth that opened wide to sharp teeth and a wicked tongue but no sound sent a shiver down Winchester's spine as he yanked his sword free. The Leviathan in front of him slowly melted away but he didn't spare it a glance as he moved to hack into the one serving as a sheath for his dagger. Before he could retrieve the small blade from the sinking puddle of sludge he and Benny were moving to help the Changelings finish off their creatures.

Panting, the players turned to the Portal once more just in time to watch the last of eight new Leviathan taking shape to block their way. The Changelings' groans underscored the cursing of the older players as they all moved forward to engage the newest enemies. 

"There are too many of them!" Deson yelled as a Leviathan bit into his arm still raised from cutting at a now fallen monster. Winchester spun around to cut at the creature, making it release the boy. Deson gritted his teeth against the pain, so glad his sensors were lower than most, and swung his sword arm. The glow of his wound left a small light trail as it moved through the air and made a last cut at the Leviathan that had bit him. Winchester had already turned back tot he second Leviathan that had originally charged him.

"We'll have to occupy them while you make for the Portal, Winchester!" Benny yelled as he pulled his ax from the side of a Leviathan that was oozing to the ground. 

"I hope you run fast! Don't know how long we can hold them off!" Abel's words were said from his position on his back, sword cutting up at the Leviathan trying to lean over him in uncoordinated hacks. "Thanks." His appreciation toward Deson, who had finished the creature, was more of a grunt as he climbed back to his feet.

Before the last of the creatures had even fully dissolved a new wave of them appeared, too many for the players to quickly count as they were being attacked again. The time between waves was growing shorter as the numbers were steadily growing larger. 

"Now or never!" Benny called out, voicing his friend's thoughts. With a quick intake of breath and a hard swing of hi broad sword, Winchester cleared the four Leviathan attacking him enough to give himself room to move. Before he could think, which would more than likely have led to second guessing, his feet were moving and propelling him up the rocky incline toward the Portal. Behind him grunting caught his attention and even as he moved forward he looked back to see Benny moving to engage the Leviathan he had abandoned. That left far too many of the creatures to surround Deson and Abel. The towering figures of the game's monsters closed in a rough circle, hiding the smaller Changelings from the Demon's view. He was only a step from the Portal as he watched on in horror as his friends were overtaken. It was a shock to his eyes and thoughts as a shout went up from one of the Changelings and a bright green light flared. Hesitating, Winchester watched as the Leviathan were consumed and Deson stepped over the pooling gray remains to help Benny who still fought two Leviathan. Winchester had no time or desire to stop and contemplate the details of Abel's apparent sacrificial self-destruct. 

Finally, finally he stepped through the Final Portal.

Dean felt a shock go through him as he passed over the threshold of the Portal. Apparently the crackling edges of the gate were not only for effect. The jolt of pain was brief, zipping through the entirety of his avatar in a flash before dissipating. With a grunt he stumbled through the barrier separating the worlds. The difference between Purgatory and this new environment was so jarring, Winchester had to take a moment to adjust to the new shock.

Slowly, Dean began to take in the world around him. The Portal had dropped him at the base of a giant tree that not only towered over Dean enough that he stumbled back a step in an effort to look up at it, but it also extended outward in a circumference that had Dean wondering how long it would take to circle the whole thing. An hour? Two? Slowly his gaze moved back to the large, arched doorway in the side of the tree. For a moment Dean was reminded of the entrance to the last boss room he fought in while captured in Supernatural. A sickening feeling sank into his being as he thought of the way that the Floor Seventy-Five boss door contrasted this bright, beautiful, but no less intimidating entrance. And just like with that boss door, Dean had no real idea what lay beyond this arched entry, only that it would be just as pivotal.

A small gasp pulled Dean from his thoughts and had him looking down to the small pocket on the breast of his jacket where Claire peeked out from her hiding spot.

"What is it, Claire? Is something wrong?"

"Papa!"

"What?" Dean jerked his gaze back up to the branches that loomed over them where Claire was staring intently.

"He's here! Papa!"

"Are you sure?" Dean sucked in a breath, eyes frantically scanning the leaves too densely packed to see between.

"I'm positive. I scanned again to be sure and it is definitely Pap's player ID. He's somewhere above us in the tree!" Suddenly the pixie was shooting from his pocket and darting at the first layer of foliage looking for an opening. Dean moved to the door, trying to find some way to open it so that he could reach his Angel. Claire's frantic please filled the air as the girl swatted at the thick leaves. "We're here Papa! Papa!"

 

Castiel sat slouched in one of the chairs pulled close to the table in his cage, his head and arms draped over the surface of the table in exhausted resignation. How long until Roman appeared to punish him for his escape attempt? How bad would it be? Would Roman finally decide he had waited on Castiel long enough and he would just take what he wanted from his former lover? A disgusted shiver ran through the Angel, jolting him against the hard marble table and pulling a groan from him. The noise nearly drowned out another soft noise that caused him to twitch again. This time he lifted his head from the table to take in the empty cage around him.

"Papa." The voice was faint but it was enough to bring the small alert icon to Castiel's attention. "Papa." He jerked around in his chair, searching the rest of the cage. There was no mistaking the voice.

"Claire?" Pushing away from the table, Castiel stood. "Claire, is that you?" He rushed to the bars of the cage, moving along the perimeter as he searched outside his prison. 

"We're here, Papa!" The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and he could find them nowhere. "Papa!"

"I'm up here!" Castiel yelled back out into the world, hoping to be heard. "Where are you, Claire? I'm up here!" Grabbing two bars he slipped his head through the gap and pushed his shoulders to the cold metal, straining to see around the edges of the cage. Not seeing anything Castiel felt himself loosing hope, crashing from the disappointment. "Dean." It was a whispered plea as his shoulders slumped against the bars. For a long moment he felt helpless.

But he had to pull himself together. Taking a deep breath he straightened himself up and pushed away from the bars of the cage to search for something, anything to act as a signal that he could send out to get Claire's attention.

Wait!

 

"How the hell am I supposed to get it?" Dean pounded a fist against the heavy, unmoving door. Claire sank to the ground, changing back into the form of a little girl as she landed, her legs folded under her so that she sat. 

"I tried to use warning mode to contact her, but I don't know if it worked." The girl's voice was so broken, Dean stopped his hitting to look at her. Slowly he approached her, deciding to sit on the ground beside her and pull the child into his side. Together they looked up at the tree that somehow kept them and Castiel apart.

"What's that?" There was a rustling in the leaves that brought Dean and Claire to their feet. Suddenly the lowest layer of leaves quivered before a couple parted and a small object fell through. Dean caught it quickly from the air and knelt to show it to Claire. "A card?" He tapped it with a single finger, trying to access an item menu, but there was nothing. Tilting it slightly to the side he offered it to Claire who took it and closed her eyes.

"Daddy!" Her eyes shot open and she was obviously excited. "This is a system admin access card!"

"Seriously? Can we access the GM controls with it?" Dean took the card back from the girl.

"No. You would need the right console to access those controls. And the only way to find that is through the system menu and I can't access that." Dean frowned and looked hard at the card.

"I doubt something like this would just fall from the sky." His gaze lifted back to the leaves above them. "I bet..."

"Yes! It's from Papa! He must have heard me and dropped it to let us know that he's up there."

"We're coming, Cas." Dean gripped the card tightly in hi hand before standing and approaching the base of the tree once more, Claire at his side. She stepped up to the door that Dean had tried to force open, placing a hand on the surface.

"Daddy, this door isn't locked by a quest flag, it's locked by the system administrator."

"What does that mean?"

"Restricted Access." She turned wide eyes on her father. "This door was never intended to be opened by a player!"

Dean reeled at the new information. All the rumors that the Final Portal was literally unachievable had been right. The game's creator had never intended for the final quest to be completed! Furry filled Dean and his hand twitched to draw the blade strapped to his back, but Claire was already speaking again.

"Miss Charlie says to give me the card." She held up a hand for the small item and closed her eyes as soon as it was in her hand once more. With the other she reached out to tough the barrier. Dean watched as the access card turned black, orange glowing lines snaking across the surface and into Claire's hand, disappearing just past her wrist. The lines reappeared on the other hand before branching outward along the surface of the entry. Suddenly the door split in two vertically, a gap growing in a bright white glow. "We're going to teleport!" Claire grabbed onto Dean's hand and he held on tightly as the light encompassed them.

 

"Daddy. Daddy." Slowly Dean became aware of himself, or rather his avatar, and he was able to open his eyes. Still the white persisted; walls, floor, ceiling, and Claire fir right in with it all in her white dress.

"Hey Claire." He smiled softly at her before turning to look around them. They seemed to be sitting in the middle of a very long, slightly curving hall. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. There's no mapping data available." Claire shook her head with a frown.

"Well, can you tell where Castiel is?"

She though for a moment before nodding. "Yes." Then she was lighting up with a smile. "This way!" Quickly she pulled on his hand until they were both standing and she began running down the long hall, Dean close on her heals. The hall seemed endless as they ran, moving with the curve, everything so uniform. Suddenly Claire stopped, looked at the wall and leaned against it with both hands. That same coded glow lit her hands and a large circular opening appeared. Without hesitation Claire led Dean through it and down a new, shorter, straighter hall that ended in a more obvious door. This time she pushed against the barrier with her whole upper body, but he saw the lines of data allowing her to open it. Still, it seemed like a great effort to get rid of the door, so without thinking Dean pushed on it as well. His body towered over hers, and from where his hands were pushed the lines of code looked more like cracks where they fractured out to meet hers. When the door began to give, Dean pulled back quickly, reaching out to grab Claire by her shoulders just as it broke completely and vanished. Claire smiled up at him for a brief moment before both stepped through the door.

They found themselves at the point where the tree and a limb joined. The branch they now stood on was so thick, Dean briefly imagined he could have parked the Impala on it. As he turned to take in the abundance of other branches, all twisting off in numerous directions, a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, shouldn't there be a city up here? With Angels? What about the Grand Quest?" He shot a look down at Claire who shook her head with a tight lipped frown. "The whole goddamn game is a lie!" Claire pulled at the sleeve of his jacket, looking up at him with those large blue eyes. Dean took a deep breath. "Yeah, I know, we've got to get Castiel out of here first, before we start plotting against that bastard." Claire smiled and began to tug him along the branch. Just then Dean glanced up into the myriad of branches and a hint of sunlight glancing off an object caught his eye. "There!" Dean gasped as he took in the sight of the giant bird cage. Suddenly he was the one leading the race along the path. And every so often as they ran, Dean and Claire would look up at the cage, orienting themselves to it. 

Slowly it grew bigger. Slowly they could tell it was not empty. Slowly a figure sitting, hunched in on itself, took form. Closer and Claire let out an excited gasp. Closer and Dean couldn't stop the grin from lighting up his face. Closer and they had finally reached the door of the giant cage.

Dean stumbled to a halt, taking in the figure that sat sadly on an edge of the large bed that curved along a side of the cage. His back wasn't to the door, he was turned to the side just enough that he may have seen his visitors from the corner of his eye, if his eyes weren't squeezed shut to try to stop the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. Dean's heart hammered in his chest and he tried to calm his breathing, tried to figure out how words worked. Claire spoke first.

"Papa!"

Castiel's head jerked up and he turned wide eyes to the door of his prison where Dean and Claire stood smiling at him. For a too long second all he could do was blink at his visitors, unsure if they were real. But the longer they remained the more sure he became. A hand flew to his mouth as he tried to hold in a gasp. He stood, swiping at his tears quickly, just as Claire put a hand to the bar of the door and they broke away.

"Papa!" Claire ran across the space that separated them and jumped into Castiel's arms. He caught her with a chuckle.

"Claire." He breathed the name like a prayer into her hair as he hugged her tightly. The sounds of footsteps had Castiel raising his head and opening eyes he hadn't realized he closed. Dean slowly made his way to them and as he lifted a hand to place on Claire's back, Castiel noticed that the man was shaking. Dean lifted his other hand to cradle Castiel's jaw as they leaned their foreheads together.

"Hey. Sorry I took so long." Dean murmured. Castiel's quiet chuckle made his heart leap.

"That's ok. I knew you'd come."

For a long moment they simply stood there, touching, reassuring themselves of the other's presence. Finally, Dean began to pull back but he seemed to change his mind and leaned in for a quick kiss. Clearing his throat as he took a step back from Castiel, he rubbed his thumb on the other man's jaw as he spoke.

"So, are you ready to go home?"

"Yes." Castiel's toothy smile lit up his face.

"Claire, can you log Cas out from here?" Dean took another step back as Castiel put the girl down.

"No. His status is locked by complicated codes that I don't have access to. Miss Charlie thinks she can do it but it will take some time. Or we need to find a system console to bypass the codes." She looked up at the men.

"Oh. I found a console in the lab."

Dean would have stopped Castiel to ask a slew of questions about 'the lab' but at that exact moment something distracted him. It was that feeling one gets in real life when someone is watching them, the virtual equivalent to the hairs on the back of one's neck standing on end, coded goose flesh on one's arms. Whatever it was had Dean spinning around to face the door of the cage and reaching for his sword.

Suddenly there was a pull in the game. Almost the slightly disorienting feeling of being teleported, only this was far more intense and Dean suspected it was exactly what being sucked through a wormhole would feel like. The game shuddered around them like a virtual earthquake as a metallic static noise seemed to fill the air.

"What was that?" Castiel called over the harsh sounds as he held Claire close to him. Dean had no answer as they were all forced to the ground by some unseen weight. Dean braced himself with his hands in a crouch, trying to push back against the artificial gravity.

"Claire?" Dean wanted to question the little AI but as he looked over at her he saw thin shots of electricity zipping over her.

"Papa! Daddy!" She cried out as her spine went ramrod straight, Castiel's hands still holding her in place by her upper arms. "Be careful! Something - something bad is coming!" And then she was gone, disappearing in a cloud of dissolved code. Castiel cried out as he fell forward at the loss.

"Hey, she's gonna be ok." Dean caught the other man's eye. "She's safe." Not wanting to say more he waited for Castiel's pained nod before he looked around them. Finally he noticed the darkness that surrounded them and the white lit circle on the floor below them that seemed to swirl with bits of darkness being pulled to a blackened spot at the center.

"Dean." It was almost a strained whimper, the way Castiel said his name as he fought the pressure pulling at them to reach for the other man.

"Cas." Dean sounded no better as he did the same. Just before their hands would have touched the force increased. Castiel hit the floor with a thud and Dean felt the strain of every muscle as he fought against it. The elbow of his left arm slammed to the floor with a jolt of pain as a voice filled the darkness.

"What a surprise." Castiel's eyes grew wide, he recognized the voice immediately. "The last thing I expected to find was a cockroach in my little bird's cage." Dean struggled to turn his head to see the man now standing over them. Smarmy smile firmly in place, pressed suit tailored perfectly, looking exactly as he did the first time Dean met him in the hospital.

"I knew you were behind all this, Roman."

"Too bad there's not a damn thing you can do about it." Roman sneered and pressed a foot to Dean's shoulder until the man finally caved under the pressure and fully hit the ground. "But tell me, Mr. Smith, or should I call you Winchester? Tell me, how did you manage to get all the way up here?" Roman bent down and pulled the sword on Dean's back from its sheath. "Did it have anything to do with that strange program I saw running?" He turned the weapon this way and that as if studying, but Dean doubted the man had ever held a sword before. 

"I flew up here." Dean snarked. "With my wings."

"Suite yourself, don't tell me." Roman looked down at him. "I'll just go ask your mind instead."

"What?"

"Oh, Cassie didn't tell you?" He laughed. "You don't think I went to all that trouble of setting this whole thing up just for fun did you? I have three hundred former players of Supernatural under my thumb. And now, thanks to their dedicated cooperation, the technology I developed for total control over thoughts and emotions is eighty percent complete." Roman looked manic the longer he spoke, excitement at his own words making him crazy. "I'm about to achieve what no one else had, the total control of the human soul. The power of a god!" It's so close I can almost taste it! Seriously, thank god for virtual reality, right!" His laughter grew until it could only be described as maniacal. It made the unease seeping through Dean grow. A mad man was a truly dangerous thing.

"You won't get away with it ." Castiel argued, drawing Roman's attention.

"And who is going to stop me exactly?" Calmly he stepped over Dean's prone form to stand closer to Castiel. "This pitiful excuse of a hero?" He pointed the tip of the blade back at Dean. "Oh, I've got an idea!" He's grin grew into a leer as he looked between the men on the ground. "Before I start tinkering with your little souls, why don't we have ourselves a little fun!" Lifting his free hand into air, Roman snapped his fingers. Suddenly two chains fell from the sky until the ends landed right in front of Castiel where he could see cuffs. Kneeling down, Roman laid Dean's sword on the ground so that he could put the metal bonds on Castiel's wrists.

"You bastard, leave him alone!" Dean said uselessly from behind Roman. The man just looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow as he lifted a hand to point a finger upward. The chained retracted back up, pulling taut as Castiel was slowly lifted from the floor. Bother Roman and Dean watched, with very different attitudes, as the Angel was raised until only the toes of his bare feet touched the ground. He shook with the strain of being pulled upward and pushed down.

"Yes. I do miss the little things, Cassie." Roman stood and stepped closer, running his hand up his prisoner's trembling leg. "Like the noises you make." Running his other hand through Castiel's hair he gripped it and pulled the man's head to him where he took a loud inhale. "And your scent. Figuring out how to replicate the way you smell in real life was a challenge." He let go and let his hand fall, the fingers of the other one now ghosting along the flat surface of Castiel's stomach. "And don't get me started on how hard it was to get an analyzer into your hospital room undetected."

"Get away from him, Roman." Dean groaned as he tried to fight the gravity to crawl closer to them. Somehow he managed to move one knee under him to push just the slightest bit up.

"Oh give me a break." Roman sighed. Bending down, he picked up the abandoned sword once more before approaching Dean. "Why don't you stay down and grovel like a good dog!" Roman kicked out, hitting Dean in the stomach and making him fall once more. Then he hefted the sword up and with unnecessary force drove it through the fallen man's body until it stuck in the floor beneath him. Dean cried out in pain and at Castiel's answering shout of his name he wished he could have held the noise in. The cry brought Roman's attention back to Castiel, at whom he stared as he spoke.

"System Command!" Roman smirked at the Angel. "Change the pain absorber from level ten to level eight." It shouldn't have been much, not really, but for the man laying with a sword protruding from his back it was too much. There was no holding back the new hisses and grunts that escaped him. "Hurts doesn't it." Roman snarled. "I'll increase the pain gradually to give you something to look forward to. By the way," he began to walk back to Castiel as he spoke casually. "Once it drops below level three it starts to effect your body in the real world." He stepped in close to Castiel once more. "As for you..." Running two fingers up from Castiel's bellybutton, he traced the subtle dip in the man's muscles to just below his pectoral where he flattened his hand. Under his touch, Castiel shook. It only spurred Roman on as he moved his hand along the muscle enough to flick Castiel's nipple with his thumb. The man let out a little whimper as a tear rolled down his cheek. Roman almost sighed with happiness but the sounds of struggling behind him dampened the moment.

"Stop it, Roman." Dean ground out. He did not expect Castiel to answer him with a sad, watery smile.

"It's ok, Dean. Whatever he does, he's not really hurting me. I can handle this." Roman laughed out loud at his words.

"I wonder how long your pride is going to last. How long you will last." Turning his hand over he fisted the material of the vest Castiel wore and tore it away. The fabric had dissolved in a shower of crystals before it hit the ground. Next, Roman moved his hand to the wait of Castiel's kilt-like bottoms. "Why don't we see how long you can hang on to it!" Another pull, too forceful, and Dean watched as a piece of cloth seemed to shatter in front of him. Castiel now hung naked, shaking from the shame and disgust coursing through him as he tried to hold back hot, angry tears.

"Now that that's out of the way." Roman circled around Castiel, his eyes taking in every detail he finally had renewed access to. "Let me tell you what I'm thinking." He flicked his eyes to Dean. "Or at least the cliffnotes version." He grinned and pressed in close to Castiel's back, raising his hands tot he trapped wrists and running them down every inch of Castiel's arms as he spoke. "Once I'm done here, I'm going to pay you a visit at the hospital." At the man's shoulders he move his path inward, aiming in a 'v' toward Castiel's groin slowly. "I'll set up a big monitor and play back a recording of this. And we can enjoy ourselves all over again. But this time with your real body." He grabbed Castiel's dick just as the captive let out a gasp of horror.

Roman reveled in the reaction. He moved around the shaking body, one hand still on its prize, and grinned at the fresh stream of tears he had caused. He leaned in and licked at the tears, letting out a moan at the sweet salty taste of devastation just before he grabbed Castiel's chin with his free hand and pulled him into a deep kiss.

"You sick son of bitch!" Dean growled. As Roman pulled away from his victim to laugh, the impaled man continued to talk, to distract. "I'll kill you! You hear me? I'm going to kill you!" Roman only laughed harder at his pitiful threats and leaned back in to kiss Castiel once more, this time his hand moving around Castiel's hip...

_"Are you giving up?" There was a pause. "Are you giving up?" More insistent this time._

_"No. I'm just facing the truth of the situation." Dean mumbled, his words slightly muffled by the floor his face was resting against._

_"Sounds like giving up to me." The voice was patronizing. "And to the power of the system you once defied."_

_"And what choice do I have? I'm simply a player and he is the damn GM."_

_"Then our battle was...what...a joke?"_

_Dean finally opened his eyes, having closed them to try and block out everything that was happening. He may have jerked at the shock of his surroundings, but he was still pinned to the floor by a sword. From his position he could tell that the room was now white, and instead of Castiel and Roman, he could see a set of black shoes at the end of ill-fitting black dress pants. With a frown he tried to look higher up where he could just make out the bottom o a white lab coat. "Do you not remember how you showed me that the power of the human will was superior to the system. How you showed me the possibilities of a future."_

_"You're..." Dean raised wide eyes just a little further up jut as the room turned dark from the floor upward, taking the man with it in a dissolving of color and code._

_"Get up, Dean. Get up."_

Clenching his jaw, Dean gathered everything in him and pushed. With shaking arms and feeling the drag of the steel on his insides, he slowly lifted himself in a torturous push up. When he was able to get his knees under him, he took a breath.

"Your attacks are weak. And the blades in Supernatural hit way harder." He got a foot under him. "And they hurt way more." He looked up to see Roman looking at him over his shoulder, a frown in place. Holding the eye contact, Dean heaved himself the rest of the way up so that he was standing on shaking legs. The wide, heavy hilt of his sword sagged and the weapon fell back and out of him with a clank.

"Unbelievable." Roman sneered, turning fully toward Dean. "I've got a few bugs left to deal with." He stepped toward the still weakened player and lifted an arm to backhand him. Only, Dean caught his wrist. Roman's eyes growing a fraction wider and the clench of his jaw were the only tells at the man's surprise as Dean began speaking.

"System login, ID Lucifer."

A series of screens appeared, floating in a circle around Dean's abdomen. Roman couldn't hide his increased shock.

"What? Whose ID are you using?"

"System Command, enable administer privileges. Set ID Roman to level one."

Roman's eyes grew wide and he stumbled back a step as a game alert appeared in front of him. He waved a hand through the alert in dismissive anger. "An ID that outranks mine? That's impossible!" He was growing more agitated as the circle of light in the ground began to dissipate, taking with it the unnaturally increased gravity. "This is my world! I'm the creator! I'm its ruler, its king, its god!"

"No. I don't think so." Dean spoke calmly, very much in contrast to Roman's yelling. "You stole everything in this world. Everything! Including its people. You're nothing but a king of thieves sitting alone on your stolen throne!"

"You fool! How dare you talk to me like that. System Command, generate object, ID Excalibur!" Roman had raised his hand as he spoke, a hand that now remained empty, nothing happening. "Do as I say you stupid game! System, your god is ordering you to comply!" As he raved, Dean leaned just an inch to the left to look around him at Castiel with reassuring smile. 

"Think you could wait just a little bit longer? This should only take a minute."

Castiel took in a shaky breath before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a tentative smile. He gave a small nod as he shifted. The sounds of the chains sent a jolt of fury through Dean once more.

"System Command! Generate object! ID Excalibur!" In a flash of coding, the sword appeared in front of Dean. Long, a hand width wide, beautiful. "A simple command summons a legendary weapon. Who knew." Dean reached for the sword, studying it for only a second, before he tossed it to Roman. The other man flinched back a step before making a grab at the hilt, barely catching it as the tip hit the ground. With an amused grunt Dean waved his hand at his side and his sword lifted in an arc where he caught it gracefully. A single practiced sweep of the blade before he pointed the weapon at Roman and spoke. "It's time to settle the score. The king of thieves versus the gilded hero. System Command, set the pain absorber to zero."

"What the hell." Roman's voice shook and Dean smirked.

"Did you just flinch? Because the other guy never flinched, no matter how bad things got. You know him. Nick Pellegrino!"

"Seriously! Pellegrino? Oh, I get it, that was his ID. The son of a bitch is supposed to be dead! And yet he's still getting in my way!"

"You know, Roman, I'm starting to think you want to be Pellegrino. Pathetic really."

"Damn you!" Roman sneered as he swung his sword at Dean who merely lifted his own weapon to block. His lack of skill was all to evident as he frantically hacked at Dean as the other man easily thwarted each blow. Growing furious, Roman tried to charge at Dean instead, his sword thrusted out as he ran by the Demon when the player easily stepped out of the way. Dean also swung his weapon in the charge, cutting Roman's cheek.

"Hurts doesn't it." Dean spoke over the scream of pain from the other man. "But I'd suspect it's nothing like the pain you put Castiel through." Dean raised his sword. "Not even close!" He brought it down in a sure motion. Rather than use his own blade to try to block the blow, Roman threw up his arm to guard his face. Dean's sword cut easily through Roman's arm at the elbow.

"My hand!" Roman stumbled backward, holding his severed stump with his other hand, the bright green of gaming grid peeking through his fingers in the place of blood. Still too angry, Dean sliced his blade through Roman's lower abdomen, cutting the man in half. As he split, his upper body falling to the ground, his lower half disappeared in a shower of green crystals. Calmly Dean sheathed his sword and knelt down to pick what was left of Roman up by his hair. With a sneer he pulled his dagger out and shoved it into the side of Roman's neck, finally cutting off the man's screams a mere handful of seconds before the last of the avatar dissipated.

Quick steps brought him to Castiel's side were he waved a hand to get rid of the chains before catching the naked man as he fell. Burying his face in Castiel's neck, Dean shook with small sobs as the events finally overwhelmed him. Castiel smoothed his hands over the other man's back as he spoke low soothing words.

"I had faith in you. Always have and will. I knew you'd save me. My hero." Dean pulled away with a humorless bark of laughter.

"I'm no hero, Cas." He placed a hand on Castiel's cheek. "But I'm doing my best for you." He leaned in for a quick kiss. Then he was summoning a menu and moving through the options. "Ok, let's get you out of here. Get you home." His hand stilled for a moment. "It's going to be late back there, past visiting hours. But I will see you at the hospital as soon as they let me."

"I'll be waiting for you." Castiel smiled and sighed heavily. "It's finally over, Dean. I'm going home."

**End all services and execute system wide log out.**

"Yeah. A bit has changed, and it's sort of an adjustment, so don't freak out."

"You'll be with me though, right?"

"Every step of the way, babe."

**Accept**

Dean watched as Castiel's avatar finally translated into lines of code that slowly broke up into crystals that lifted into the air and vanished. He had finally logged out. There were finally free..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just wanted to tack on a little footnote here: Everyone that read about OliveOil, our puppy, I just wanted to say she is doing great. As I finish up this story I also finish up my time with her. She will be good to go home with my father in law next week. Yay to endings.


	11. Epilogue - The World Seed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, a big reason it took a few more days than I wanted to post this last bit was because I had so much trouble figuring out how I wanted to order this last chapter. So if it is totally confusing and sucks, let me know so I can straighten it out into plain timeline. Otherwise, I really hope you enjoy it!

_**"Hello again, Dean. How have things been since out last talk?"** _

"Hey, Cas." Dean leaned over and placed a small kiss to Castiel's temple. "I'm sorry I'm late, work was crazy and Lisa was on the phone when I went to get Ben and made me wait for her to be done." Dean let out a heavy sigh and sat down. "So, no change, huh?" He ran a hand over his smooth face, knowing he won't shave all weekend so that he will have raspy stubble come Sunday evening. Castiel liked it that way.

"No. But I believe it is about to start." Castiel looked up at Dean with a smile. "Hello Ben." He gave a small wave to the teenager as he sat down next to Dean.

"Hey Castiel. How are you doing?"

"Very well. The doctor said I could finally stop using the crutches."

"So you didn't tell him you stopped using them weeks ago?" Ben grinned, already knowing the answer.

"No need to point out something that didn't hinder my progress." Castiel shook his head and looked back at the very pregnant cat laying in a box at his side. Dean chuckled as he stood once more.

"Sam and Jess should be here in twenty. I'm gonna go change and start the burgers." He ran a hand through Castiel's hair as he passed and the other man grabbed his hand to press a kiss to the back before letting him go. Dean smiled at him for a long moment, still unable to believe that he finally had Castiel there with him. Even after the two months they had been living together.

It had come as no surprise to either man that Castiel had no home or job upon waking from Purgatory. Richard Roman had made calls as the concerned boyfriend, telling the sleeping man's boss and landlord all about his plan to take Castiel away from everything to reduce the stress should he ever wake. Since that sure as hell wasn't going to happen, Castiel was released from the hospital and straight into Dean's care. Still on half days at the time, Dean reveled in his new role of caretaker for the still weak man. Somehow they had grown even closer, especially now that real world topics were something they could discuss. They had even adopted a cat, who incidentally turned out to be pregnant, to celebrate Castiel getting his old job back, which he would start again the following Monday.

The sound of Ben and Cas laughing followed Dean to his room and served only to remind him how well the two got along. Lisa may not like Castiel, probably never would, but she had never denied her son a chance to see Dean and even staying the night on occasion. With the kittens coming, tonight was one such night. Well, that and the new quest, but Lisa didn't need to know about that.

When Sam and Jess did arrive, Dean wasn't all that surprised to see Jess dart to Castiel's side. No doubt she wanted to talk about wedding details that Sam and Dean just couldn't get excited about, but Cas was really good at listening. Ben chuckled and followed Sam as the older man ushered Dean into his own home office for a quick talk.

"So the seed is doing amazing. We just kicked in server number three hundred!"

"Yeah?" Dean's eyes grew wide as he listened to his friend talk.

"Oh yeah. Fifty mirrors are up and we are at just upwards of one hundred thousand downloads already." Sam grinned and grew more excited as he explained further. "So get this, it turns out that it's a stripped down version of the Cardinal system, able to run on small servers. He modified it so that anyone with access to an ordinary server could download it and use it to create their very own online world. Charlie checked it out with everything she's got before we uploaded, the system's safe. And now it's free access to everyone."

"That's great news, Sam." Dean clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Hundreds more worlds to explore!" Ben practically bounced with excitement.

"Easy kid, one at a time." Dean chuckled.

"Yeah, and give it just a little more time and you'll be able to transfer all your character data between worlds, too."

"So awesome!" The men laughed at the teenager's enthusiasm as they stepped out of the office.

"Our plans still good for tonight then?" Dean asked as they passed the entrance to the living room where he made a point of glancing in at Jess before looking back at Sam.

"Yeah," Sam nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, she's good. Even talking about maybe joining some day. But we're on for tonight. We'll meet up in Yggdrasil City." Dean nodded and stepped into the kitchen to finish making dinner. Right as he was getting ready to announce that it was done, Cas called out from the living room.

"Dean! The first kitten is coming!" And the excitement continued.

_**"Good. Yeah. We've got kittens. Never expected to say that. Cas started work today. He seems happy."** _

_**"And what about you? Are you happy?"** _

Dean held the door to the Roadhouse open long enough for Castiel and Ben to enter. Those closest to the door smiled and waved as the trio took a second to let their eyes adjust to the dimmer interior and find people they knew. Or at least knew by real name. Almost everyone int he bar and grill had been players in Supernatural, those that weren't were there as guests of the others. It was a reunion of sorts for those that had been locked away int he same world apart from everyone else. And it was taking place in a new bar that had been opened in memory of those players that had not made it out of the game. As Dean looked around at the patrons he couldn't help but noticing the framed pictures covering too much of the walls, candid photos of people that had died while playing Supernatural, small colorful renderings of their players overlapping in the lower corner. Bobby had already told him where he could find three of the pictures, safely tucked behind the bar in a place of honor: Ellen, Jo, and Rufus.

"Hey guys!" Sam called out as he left his place at the bar and approached them.

"Hey, are we late?" Dean asked as he was pulled into a hug by the taller man.

"Oh, no. We told everyone else an earlier time." Sam reached out to shake Castiel's hand as he spoke. "Couldn't have the guest of honor getting here before everyone else since you live so much closer." Nodding at Ben in greeting, Sam put a hand on Dean's shoulder and led him to the bar. As they walked Dean recognized a few familiar faces from the front lines, men and women that had helped end Supernatural. Everyone was turning to watch as Sam moved Dean to face the room. 

"Congratulations on beating Supernatural, Dean!" The statement was loud and joyous, everyone present taking part in yelling it out. Dean didn't know how to react.

"Everyone in here owes you, Dean." Sam said quietly to his friend as everyone else went back to their conversations and drinks.

"It wasn't just me, Sam, you know that." Dean shrugged as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"It kinda was, man." Sam smirked.

"Plus, Purgatory was all you, and quiet a few of us owe you for that too." Dean turned to see Charlie wearing a bright smile, and helping support an older, smaller woman. "Guys, this is my mom, Gertrude. Mom, this is Dean, the guy who ended both Supernatural and Purgatory." Finally, after six weeks they were getting to meet.

Gertrude reached out without preamble and pulled Dean into a tight hug. "Thank you. For everything." Dean swallowed thickly at the woman's hushed words.

"Ok, Mom, don't make the hero cry." Charlie laughed and pulled her mother over to a free seat, waving over her shoulder at the men.

A little more handshaking, finding out who had played as who, and a couple of short conversations and finally everyone settle into groups of familiar friends, leaving Dean, Castiel, Ben, and Sam all sitting in a booth talking.

"So where's your better half, Wesson?" Victor asked as he pulled a chair up to their table and sat.

"Work. She couldn't get off so I'm out here alone." Sam frowned. "She's sorry she's missing this though. She actually wanted to meet everyone, but some coworkers got sick and she got called in."

"Well, this place isn't too out of the way for you, you could still bring her in and meet some of us." Victor offered just as another man joined them.

"Yeah, the rest of us are the ones out of luck, living too far away from y'all." Benny shook his head as he leaned against the booth.

"You could move closer." Sam offered.

"Nah, Andrea likes where we are too much. And no offense, but I've kinda had my fill of you guys for a while." The others laughed at the truth of that statement, each of them knowing that their distant friends were just a virtual dive away.

"Um, how are things going with..." Castiel's voice was low enough they almost missed it, but Dean and Victor, sitting on either side of him, heard enough.

"Roman?" Victor clarified, waiting for Castiel's nod of confirmation. The agent took a long drink as he thought of what information to give his friend. The night the three hundred woke up, Victor and his team of FBI agents intercepted Richard Roman at the airport where he was getting a flight back to Chicago. Dean firmly believed he had planned to kidnap Castiel. That had yet to be proven. But he never got there because Charlie had already forwarded all the recorded data she had saved from Purgatory as she helped Dean fight her boss. Despite the fact that the other players didn't remember any of their time during the experiments, Castiel knew enough. His statement coupled with the RRE employees that talked gave the FBI a very strong case. One that was awaiting trial, six weeks after Purgatory was shut down.

"His lawyers are trying to buy time with paperwork. Don't know what they think it will accomplish. We have him." Victor put a hand on Castiel's shoulder. "We have him. Leviathan is being dismantled. RRE is under investigation, too. It's all taken care of." He smiled and dropped his hand. 

"What about VRMMORPGs?" They all turned to look at Ben as the boy spoke. "This was strike two, and they were pretty big strikes. What's going to happen to VR gaming?" The others grew quiet as they considered the question and possible answers.

"I think it'll persevere." Castiel was the one to finally speak. "Sure, for a while it may only be hardcore players. But I think it'll survive this." The others nodding, if not in agreement than in the hope that he was right. Sam glanced at Dean and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure something will come along that will keep things going. Just give it time." Dean smiled and took Castiel's hand under the table. The gilded hero still had a few trick up his sleeve.

_**"Yeah. Yeah, I'm really happy. Things are settled back to normal, with the added bonus of Cas."** _

_**"You seem to be handling all the events well, Dean."** _

"I promise everything looks fine on this end kid. We just have to wait-" Charlie turned just as Dean sat up and pulled off his Nerve Gear. "Oh, hey, he's out!" She grinned as she held the phone she had been talking on out to Dean. "It's Ben. He called to make sure everything is ok." Dean nodded and took the phone.

"Hey kid, everything is fine."

_"Oh good. Sure took you a while to log out!"_

"Yeah, had a lot of stuff to take care of. But it's done. I'll give you more details later, I promise. Right now I've got to make a few calls and crash so I can go finally see Cas first thing in the morning."

 _"Ok, yeah._ Ben laughed. _"Maybe I can go with you again sometime?"_

"Yeah, that would be great."

_"Ok, I better go. Say hi to him for me."_

"Will do. Night Ben." When he hung up Dean glanced at the clock on Charlie's laptop where she was closing out of programs to shut it down. "Shit, it's already after eleven?"

"Yeah, time was a bit screwy after you made it through the Final Portal. Ben called a couple of times but I was busy keeping an eye on you. That last one was me giving in and answering."

"Yeah, thanks for that. Hey, Claire is safe, right?"

"Yup. Safely still tucked away in your gear."

"Awesome." Dean looked back down at his phone and began tapping away at the screen once more.

"Who are you calling now?" Charlie shut her laptop and slipped it into her case.

"First a buddy in the FBI. Richard Roman is in serious shit." Dean put the phone to his ear. "Thought I might give Sam a head's up. And Benny."

Charlie nodded and shouldered her bag. "Keep me posted. I'd love to meed this guy sometime. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see my mom." Before she could reach the door Dean grabbed her up into a tight hug.

"Thanks." He whispered the word into her hair as she hugged back.

"Thank you, too."

"Hey, Vic." Dean let her go and Charlie hurried from the house. Lots to be done now.

_**"I think so, yeah. We're moving on, trying to put the whole mess behind us."** _

_**"And how has it effected your gaming?"** _

"That's it. Game over." Dean sighed as he stretched his avatar and stood. "Or is it? What do you think Lucifer?" Soft footsteps preceded the man's words.

"Good to see you again, Winchester." He stood casually when Dean turned to see him, hands tucked in his pockets, head slightly bowed. 

"So you are alive."

"You could say that I'm alive, in a way. Ultimately I am the after image of the mind that was Nick Pellegrino. An echo."

"And, as usual I have no idea what you're talking about." Dean scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. "But I guess I should thank you, though."

"That's not necessary. We're not exactly friends so we shouldn't expect favors from each other. There's always a price."

Dean frowned. "Ok, what do you want me to do?" As soon as he finished speaking a glowing egg appeared and moved closer to him. Looking closer he could see that just under the surface were swirling lines of programming code. A small, shiny object looking a lot like a jewel was at the center. "What's this?"

"The beginnings of a new world. I call it The Seed. Once it sprouts, you'll know what it is. What you do with it is up to you." Pellegrino shrugged. "You can even delete it if you want. However, if any part of you still enjoys the virtual world you'll take care of it." There was a pause while Dean studied the egg. "Well, I should get going now. I do hope we meet again, Winchester." Pellegrino turned and walked away. As he faded Dean couldn't help but disagree with the game designer's final statement. With a slight shake of his head, Dean accessed his menu and finally logged out.

_**"It hasn't really effected it too much. I, we, still love the virtual world. This whole thing may have made us hesitant, more cautious, but it's not going to stop us. In fact, I've got a hundred floor floating city uploading today that I plan on beating."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it folks! All done! And so now I take a minute to ask the biggest question: Is this the end for this verse?  
> Right now? Yes. Absolutely. This project was a labor of love but a labor nonetheless. Now that it is over and done with I want to go work on some of my original stuff for a little while before coming back to Dean and Castiel. That being said, there is the possibility for more story sometime in the future. So you may want to subscribe to the series just in case. But it will be a while before I touch on this again, despite the little bits of idea I have.
> 
> And with that I bid you all farewell from the SAO world. If you liked the story especially I highly recommend you find Sword Art Online and watch it, Kirito and Asuna, one whom Dean and Cas are based, are two of my favorite characters. And you can find out how their story ends and see where mine might delve next. For sure the show is on Netflix and Hulu. Totally go watch them!
> 
> Thank you all for all the love and your wonderful comments! This was such an awesome experience! I hope to see you through some of my other works! Until next time, see ya bitches!


End file.
